Hands-on projects help children soak up science – San Diego Union-Tribune

By Jon Lewis

For The Union-Tribune

Planting seeds and watching them grow can be truly rewarding for you and your children. Do you have a garden at home? Are your children interested in gardening or learning where their food comes from? Whether you have a 10-acre produce garden or a plastic pot on the back step with some soil in it, you can have fun learning about plants, science and nature with your children.

There are many garden-related learning activities you can do with your children at home, in a local park or at school. These can be simple and fun, helping you spend quality time with your kids and giving them a learning boost. The School Garden Committee of the UC Master Gardener Program of San Diego County has curated a set of engaging gardening activities for parents, grandparents and other caregivers to do with kids. Here are a few, along with instructions and a description of needed supplies.

Garbage can gardening

This activity demonstrates how some plants continue to grow and produce edible leaves and stems from their base.

Celery is a good choice for this. Add water to a large water glass. Cut 2 inches off the base of a store-bought celery bunch. Stick toothpicks around the base and immerse the bottom of the bunch in the water. The toothpicks should be positioned to keep the plant base from touching the bottom of the container. Place this in a sunny window.

After a week or so, observe new celery stems growing from the center and roots emerging from the bottom. After significant root growth, remove and plant in soil in your garden or in a pot with potting soil. Sprouting avocado seeds works similarly. Experiment with lettuce heads, carrot tops and sweet potatoes, and examine which of these works best, and why.

Seed bombs

This activity is best done when the weather is mild. Shred some newspaper, printer or construction paper and put it in your kitchen blender with some water. Blend this to a soggy consistency, squeeze out the water, and roll it into a small ball.

Using flower seeds you’ve collected from your yard, a purchased wildflower seed mix or native flower seed mix, spread a handful of these on a shallow tray or plate. Roll the wet paper ball around in the seeds. Place the balls aside and allow them to dry. Then toss these into your garden before a rainfall.

You can also use powdered modeling clay, compost or clay soil from your garden. Please do not “seed bomb” a public park or public space or your neighbors’ yards! Also, please do not collect seeds from public spaces.

Spice watercolor art

Raid your kitchen cabinet of all those expired spices! Purchase some sheets of watercolor paper, a few small paint brushes and a cheap paint palette tray from a craft store.

Shake a small amount of dry spice into each of the tray cups, dip the brush tip in water, roll it in a spice color, and start painting. Turmeric makes a beautiful yellow “paint.” Cinnamon, nutmeg and cocoa make warm browns and tans. Consider adding in some beet root powder for a great red and spirulina for a pretty blue-green. Research where the spices come from and how they are used in cooking.

Autumnal leaf tracing

Collect some pretty leaves that have fallen from neighborhood trees. Arrange groups of different leaves on a table surface under a piece of printer or construction paper.

Using color pencils or crayons, rub across the paper with the side of a crayon or pencil to expose the leaf veins. Trace the leaf veins with darker crayons. Fill in the leaf prints and border with pretty autumn colors.

Talk about how the leaf veins convey water and nutrients to the leaf to support the photosynthesis process.

Citizen science

For older children and teens, there are several cellular phone apps that can be used to identify plants and animals.