OBJECTIVE

To imagine growing like a seed, learn basic plant parts and use some gross motor skills.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How do seeds grow?

MATERIALS NEEDED

None

PROCEDURE

Introduction
This is a great activity to do before any seed planting project or gardening lesson. Show the seeds to the children. You can ask questions such as: are these seeds alive?, how do seeds grow?, what will happen when we plant these?
Activity
Curl into a ball to pretend to be a seed, have kids quietly listen to the sounds around them. Then, tell them that the rain begins to fall (you can tickle their back to pretend you’re the rain). As the sun comes out you begin to grow. Have the kids unfurl and push their roots into the ground (point to your feet and pretend they are roots). Then your stem begins to stretch you up to the sun (point to your legs and pretend they are the stem). You are growing and growing and stretching up to the sun. You send out your leaves (push your arms out). And now you are getting flowers (open up the fingers on your hands very wide). Next a bee comes to pollinate you and turn your flowers into tomatoes (make your fingers bend and be heavy to represent tomatoes). The farmer comes to pick the tomatoes, eats some and saves some seeds to replant. (Crouch down to re-plant the seeds).
Have kids sit at circle after re-planting the seed or have them shimmy back down to sitting at circle.
Wrap up/Assessment
Ask them what happened to their seed? How did it grow? What happened first?

FOLLOW UP & EXTENSIONS

Sing a growing song.
Go on a plant part scavenger hunt.