Starting Seeds with Kids at Home

Yesterday, I was informed that for the remainder of the semester my courses will be online. If your school hasn’t closed temporarily yet, it will probably come soon. Along with University and College going online, schools across the country will be closed at least through the end of March. This leaves parents in a position to keep their kids occupied throughout the day.

I hope you are able to get through this tough time together as a family. Despite what is going on, I hope you are able to create life long memories with your family.

As a future educator, I hope that this gives you some inspiration to spend some time with your kids this week and have some fun!

If you didn’t know already, this is the perfect time to be starting seeds! There are a plethora of seeds that will germinate in only a few days.

If you don’t have seeds, you can venture to the garden section of any big box store or check out your local garden center (if they’re open). My local Meijer and Walmart keep the seeds on the opposite side of the store as the food. I was there today and there was maybe 2 other people in gardening section with me.

If you’re avoiding the store, there are plenty of online seed companies that are still shipping seeds. Or ask your friends that garden, I’m sure they will be happy to share.

• https://migardener.com/ – MIGardener based out of Michigan
• https://rareseeds.com – Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds based out of Missouri
• https://www.johnnyseeds.com/
• https://www.botanicalinterests.com/

Materials:

• Seeds
• Potting Soil
• Any small container
• Clear plastic wrap
• Water

Here are my recommended seeds to start with kids . If you don’t have seeds on hand already, let your child help pick out what you plant. This will make it more interesting for them.

Most flowers will sprout within a few days. Your children will be waiting with anticipation for the seeds to poke out of the soil.

Once you have your seeds, pour some seeds out onto a paper towel or white plate. Let your child look at the seeds and touch them. Talk to them about what they notice. Tomato seeds for example, sometimes have a “fuzzy” texture to them.

After observing and talking about the seeds, prepare your container (make sure there are holes in the bottom). You can use anything you have on hand. Old yogurt containers, plastic cups, Keurig cups, soda cans, etc. just use what you have.

Label the side of your container with the name of the seed that you planted.

Let your child fill the container with soil. Talk to them about what they think about the texture and anything else they notice about touching the soil.

Poke a hole in the center of you container twice as deep as your seed. Put 2 or 3 seeds in the hole to guarantee at least 1 comes up.

Water in your seeds.

Secure a plastic wrap like saran wrap to your container with a rubber band, hair tie, etc..

Place your cup in a warm sunny window and wait for your seedlings to emerge!

The plastic wrap creates a “miniature greenhouse”. You will not need to water until the seeds emerge from the soil. Once they poke out of the soil remove the plastic.

After your seeds sprout, only water when the soil feels dry.