I love the thought of planting something with the kids, but lack the green thumb (ahem, discipline/ patience) to follow through more than a few days. Thankfully, these three quick sprouting activities managed to survive!
1. Cress Heads
- Cress seeds (You can’t kill these things if you tried, amazing)
- Old baby food jars
- Spray bottle
- Cotton balls
Stick googly eyes and draw faces onto your containers- old baby food jars or sterilized egg shells work great. Fill with moist cotton balls and sprinkle on the cress seeds (the more the merrier). With water and sunlight, you should see them start to sprout the next day and by the end of the week, you’ll be cutting some serious hair.
2. Lima Bean Bags
A simple, but great way to visualize roots. Add moist cotton balls and dry lima beans into a plastic sandwich baggie taped to the window. Within two days (keeping the inside of the bag damp), you’ll see a little action happening and by the end of the week, the lima should be growing green foliage. Might want to hedge your bet with a couple bags since one of ours got moldy (and I really never want to smell that smell again…)..
3. Sponges Houses
Not gonna lie, the best part of this one was making the house. There is something oddly satisfying about piecing together dry sponge with tooth picks down to the crunchy sound. Trying to grow whatever they promised would grow on pinterest? Much less satisfying. Just use cress (AKA the cockroach of sprout seeds) and keep in mind that sponges dry out quickly so get out those squirt bottles.
