Growing With Science Blog

Winter is not always the best season for botany lessons outdoors, but there are still plenty of fun things to explore indoors when it comes to plants.

Today we are going to investigate how plants survive harsh periods when they can’t grow, such as periods of cold weather or drought.

Gather:

• Storage roots:  carrots, preferrably natural with tops (not baby carrots)
• Bulbs: like onions
• Seeds:  dried bean seeds would work well, as well as packets of carrot and onion seeds
• Perennial fruit:  such as blackberries

Or at least gather some pictures.

Look out the window on a winter day. Where are all the plants?

Plants have different life cycles. Some plants are annuals, meaning they complete their life cycle in one growing season. At the end of the season the plants release seeds that fall to the ground. Take a look at the seeds and examine the outer layers, called seed coats.

The seed coat keeps out decay organisms and helps the seeds survive until conditions are right for growth.

A few of our common edible plants are biennials. Plants like carrots and onions require two growing seasons to complete their life cycles. In the first growing season they store up food in the root or bulb. The root remains protected underground over winter. The second year the plants utilize that food to grow flowers and produce seeds. (Show the roots, bulbs and seeds).

Try planting a carrot root or onion bulb. What do you think will happen? (Note:  to save food, simply plant the carrot top and the bottom, white part of a green onion.) See if you can grow the plants until they flower and produce seeds.

Other plants are perennials, which live for three or more years. Of these, some survive the winter as storage structures like bulbs, rhizomes or corms. Daffodils are bulbs, crocuses are corms and irises are rhizomes.  Bushes and trees have woody stems that survive above the ground as well as roots underground. Strawberries, blackberries, grapes and peaches all come from perennial plants.

If you get a chance, go on a walk and look for plant seeds, storage roots and other overwintering plant structures under the leaves and snow.

For a free gardening poster that covers the basics of a plant cycle, go to Welch’s Harvest Grants for school gardens at Scholastic. If you click on the parents’ side- look at the right hand column for a “How Does Your Garden Grow” poster in .pdf format, as well as a garden activity sheet (a maze and seed marker template.) Note:  if you use the poster, you might want to mention the bean seed is found in the green bean fruit and show an example.

For more plant activities, try Kitchen Scrap Gardening activities at GrowingWithScience.

(which reminds me, I should really start working on that again )

Let me know what you find out!

Right in time for Mother’s Day, we have a hummingbird nest filled with two baby hummingbirds outside our upstairs front window. There is a creeping fig vine that climbs over the front door and this is the fifth time hummingbirds have nested on it.

Do you think that is the mother bird or a baby? We know from experience that it is a baby because the mother’s beak is much longer relative to her head size. As you can see, the mother bird is a bit messy about the bird droppings.

I’m afraid this isn’t the best photo. The circumstances are less than ideal to take a photo and I didn’t want to disturb the chicks in any way. The nest is incredibly tiny and very hard to spot.

Take a look around your neighborhood and see if you can locate any birds making nests. You might want to take photos and make records of what is happening to the nest over time. Always be sure to respect the birds and stay well out of their way as much as possible.

If you want more opportunities to watch birds, you can put up bird nest boxes. Take a look at Nestwatch for ideas and projects.

If you can’t find a nest to watch, check the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nest Cams.
If you have a sensitive youngster, be aware that the owls and hawks feed their young animal prey and it shows on some of the cams.

Looking back, we have had quite a few posts about birds. Here are links to a few.
Build a Bird Nest (Human-sized)

Bird Watching and Making Nest Cards

Desert Bird Curriculum Guide

Pigeon Watching

Have fun and let us know what you see.

Pssst, Kids:  Mother’s Day is coming up soon. Are you looking for science and art projects that will be nice Mother’s Day presents? Here are a few ideas. I would love to hear yours.

1.    Decorate a pot and plant a flower, houseplant or herb for your mother to enjoy.
Gather:

• Clay pot of appropriate size
• Potting soil and water
• Pot paint (preferred) or acrylic craft paint, acrylic paint markers (optional).
• Plant or seeds

Decorate the pot by painting it and let it dry. The acrylic paint dries fairly quickly so you can make designs. Use acrylic paint markers to add words such as “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Cover the hole in the bottom of the pot with a small stone and fill pot about half way with potting soil, if you are using a plant purchased from a nursery. Add your plant and fill remaining soil around it. If you started some cuttings from the plant propagation activity, they would look great in a pot, too.

If you want, you can also start with seeds. Fill the pot with potting soil and plant the seeds according to the instructions on the package. Here are some chives and basil plants just starting.

Remember to keep your plants watered while you are waiting for that special day.

2.    Dye some white flowers her favorite color.
Gather:

• Vases – one for each color you are going to test
• Water
• White flowers such as carnations
• Food coloring

Place the white flowers in vases of water. If an adult is helping you, ask him or her to cut the stem at an angle, preferable under water, so the flowers can take up water easily. Add at least 20 drops of food coloring to each vase, a different color in each one. If you have enough vases and flowers, leave one without food coloring to use as a control. Watch and see what happens for about a day. Compare whether all the colors worked the same. Place all the flowers together in a pretty vase of fresh water and present to your mother.

3.    Make a picture or card of pressed flowers.
Did you press any flowers with a plant press from the activity about weeds? Use the flowers to make a nice flower bouquet that your mother can enjoy for a long time.

There are several ways to use pressed flowers. The easiest is to glue the flowers to a piece of paper with white glue. Use a small paint brush and/or tweezers to help move the delicate dried plants. If you have some, special paper glue used in paper arts works best.

Doesn’t this dried flower look a bit like a hummingbird?
You can also use contact and wax paper, as suggested at About.com.

4.    Draw a picture of her favorite flower and/or animal.
Use markers or crayons to draw a picture for your mom. If you want to try something new, try using watercolor markers to draw small circles for the body and head of animals and then add details with a black sharpie.

Mix pressed plants and drawings for a neat effect.

5.    Make a card using the paper you made in the recycled paper activity.

6. Write your mom a poem. Mothers love poems!

For inspiration fold an origami animal, like the butterfly at the bottom of this post, and then write your poem on it.

These are just a few suggestions. If you have more, please let us know.