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Colourful cabbage
or water absorption of flowers
Why do we need to water flowers and what happens to it?
 
Materials needed:
  • cabbage 
  • glasses with water (several)
  • food colouring
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Instructions:
  1. Add different water colouring to each of your glasses.
  2. Separate the cabbage leaves and place one leaf in each glass.
  3. Wait for about a day.
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Science behind: Water absorption
Flowers absorb water through the xylem, a tissue of thin tubes found on the outer stem of plants. Its job is to transport water and nutrients from the roots to all areas of the plant. If you introduce colouring to water the water that gets absorbed shows on the flower petals and leaves.
Suggestions:
You can use any sort of absorbent plant or white flowers.
Inspired by 'The Giant Cabbage' by Cherie B. Stihler
Beansprouts
Beansprouts in a bottle 
or seed germination
How do seeds become plants and flowers?
 
Materials needed:
  • plastic bottle 
  • beans/soybeans/mung beans/ peas
  • water
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Instructions:
  1. Wash the beans in clean water and discard any bad ones.
  2. Add the beans in the bottle about 1/3 -1/2 full. 
  3. Add water to cover the beans and keep adding as necessary. The beans should germinate in 3-5 days.
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The science behind: Seed germination.
Germination is the process of seeds developing into new plants. When water is plentiful, the seed fills with water. The water activates enzymes, that begin the process of seed growth. First, the seed grows a root to access water underground and later leaves to harness energy from the sun.
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Suggestions:
You can use different beans in various bottles and compare how fast they grow.
Inspired by 'Jack and the Beanstalk' by Iona Treahy
big strawberry
Strawberry 
or plant runners
Can you plant strawberries without seeds?
 
Materials needed:
  • pot
  • soil
  • strawberry runner (from a friend or elsewhere if you are lucky)
​
Instructions:
  1. If you have friends with strawberries, great. If not find someone with strawberries, even in a shop (and asking for permission of course) find a runner.
  2. Put soil in the pot and plant your runner. 
  3. Make sure you water it as it grows and soon it becomes a strawberry plant of your own!
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The science behind: Plant runners.
Strawberry runner, or stolon, comes from Latin and means shoot, branch, or twig springing from the root. Their role is vegetative reproduction due to plants' low lying (near the ground) nature. 
Suggestions:
  • You can use seeds and a runner to compare which one grows faster and what the differences are.
Inspired by 'The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear' by Audrey Wood
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Carrot leaves 
or root vegetables
Save the stud when you cook next time and see what happens.
 
Materials needed:
  • cutting board
  • knife (with adult supervision)
  • carrot
  • bowl with water
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Instructions:
  1. Cut the top end of your carrot. 
  2. Place it in a bowl of water, covering only about 1mm of the carrot. 
  3. Wait for the leaves to slowly grow (at least 5 days). 
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The science behind: Root vegetables. 
Root vegetables are underground plant parts used as vegetables. They are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. As such they can regrow once planted. 
Suggestions:
  • Compare different vegetables, for example, cabbage, leek, onion, garlic. Will they also grow? If so how are they different?
Inspired by 'The Enormous Turnip' by Katie Daynes 
carrot leaves
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