Learning Activity: Bulb Growth Chart

Learning Activity: Bulb Growth Chart.

This sounds like an amazing fun little “at home” activity – measuring the growth of a plant. I wonder if you could also measure the root growth? I know that they tend to be windier and far more tangled, but maybe an approximate growth?

I also love the idea given in the post about looking for patterns of growth and comparing different plants. We have windows facing east and west, would that create a difference in growth rates? It would be good for a Biology Plants unit and for STEM.

It should even work for cress in a test tube (that way you don’t have to worry quite so much about remembering to water them!) over a few weeks perhaps.

Experiments for Kids | Effecting Plant Growth – Lemon Lime Adventures

Experiments for Kids | Effecting Plant Growth – Lemon Lime Adventures.

I really like this idea. We already use a version where we grow plants lacking certain nutrients (without phosphate, without nitrate, etc), but for a STEM session or science at home, this might be far easier to come to grips with. In the experiment Lemon and Lime did, they used tap water, river water, salt water, carbonated water and soda. I would love to add in acidic and an alkali water (both can be made easily at home).

Then, measure the plants and their growth over a week or two – obviously at home that is far easier to do each day and in STEM the changes might be huge within a week, but I still think it would be so fun to do! Plus, we sometimes have an issue with getting our STEM members to make predictions and they do it during/after the experiment (you know, when they can’t be wrong! Haha!) and this one is ideal because they won’t see any results for a week!

I think it might also be far more visual than the in-school version that we do! It might also be worth trying in test tubes with cress seeds as the watering them aspect is never as much of an issue and the growth is far quicker.

 

Plant an Odds-and-Ends Garden

Plant an Odds-and-Ends Garden.

Some “at home” ways to grow new vegetables. With beetroot, slice the top off and keep the green shoots attached, rinse it and place it in a shallow dish of water.

With celery, cut a bunch of celery down until you have only 3 inches of the base and put it in a shallow dish of water. Within a week, leaves should be growing out of the center. The advise is to peel away rotting stalks as it grows.

Basil stalks can be put into tall glasses of water (small leaves not submerged) and after a few weeks roots should emerge – this should be good to study and visibly see root growth.

Apparently garlic cloves can be fully emerged in water and roots will appear in a few days, sprouts may take a little bit longer, but still in a clear container this would be perfect and perhaps easier to study root growth.

Cut a washed sweet potato in half and put it in another shallow dish of water. Leaves appear in 2 weeks.

Some of these would be perfect for a STEM session – celery, beetroot and garlic for definite, with the others perhaps taking a bit too long. And of course they’re all amazing ideas for Plant Biology and for doing at home. I have a pin somewhere about other fruits/vegetables that you can re-grow at home so I will try and find that to add to this topic.

Until then, I can try out this one!