Science
Bean in a jar
- Builds: How seeds grow
- 10 min
- Ages 3–6
- Calm
- A little tidy-up
In the morning: soak 3–4 dried beans or chickpeas in a cup of water.
From the house
- The soaked beans
- A clear jar or glass
- Paper towels
- A little water
How to play
- They scrunch up paper towels and stuff them into the jar.
- Tuck the beans between the towel and the glass, where you can see them.
- Pour in a little water so the towels are damp but not swimming.
- Put the jar by a window and check every day: first a root grows down, then a shoot grows up.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: You tuck in the beans, and they do the watering and the daily checking.
- Harder: They draw the bean each day and label the root, shoot and leaves, then plant it in soil once the leaves open.
Words to use
- seed
- root
- shoot
- grow
- water
- wait
Why it helps
Checking the same beans each day shows them that a seed is alive and needs water to grow, and that roots grow down while shoots grow up.
Grown-up eyes: You hand out the beans and put the rest away. Raw dried beans are a choking risk and must not be eaten.