Growing green beans

I’m sure you remember this simple activity from your school days. Get some green beans, and place them on wet cotton inside a container, then watch them grow.

This activity came about because I didn’t know what to do with the plastic water container that he brought home from school. You see, at school, the art and craft activity involved cutting a plastic water bottle in half, then cutting vertical strips which are then folded outwards. Teacher said it was meant to be a desk organiser, but I felt it was a little too flimsy for that task.

Anyway, it ties in with the kindergarten’s science theme of plants. I thought it would be good to show my son the roots. We see the other parts of the plants, but seldom the roots.

I wondered why green beans were always used, and not other beans. So in a different container (he brought back 2 containers from art and craft), we placed kidney beans, soy beans, black eyed beans. Well, those didn’t grow. Or perhaps I didn’t give them a chance to grow as they started smelling really bad after a few days!

I was more excited than my son to check out the growth the next day after planting them! My son coolly said, “Nope, not yet. Not so fast”. He probably learnt that seeds take time to grow from the various educational TV shows on Astro.

He also learnt what’s required for plants to grow (soil, water, sunlight) cos he was being silly when he asked me if he could plant the seeds on his blanket!