09 Jul, 2014
One to grow on
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Home/reno|Recipes and Food
Everyone already knows that if you have little kids at home and you’re looking for an activity that might inspire healthy eating and a green thumb, the answer might lie in planting a garden. Green beans are a good thing to plant because they grow so fast.
I planted some bean seeds on a whim, right next to a part of the fence which receives a bit of extra sunshine in the morning. They’re climbing up a metal trellis we’ve had for awhile.
A couple weeks ago it occurred to me that it’d be fun to track their growth, so every morning I’ve been dutifully putting a chalk mark on the trellis, right next to the top of each plant as it winds its way up towards to the sun.
I knew beans grew fast, but I didn’t think they grew THAT fast. Sometimes the vines grow over six inches in the span of 12-15 hours. It’s been neat to mark the progress.
It is a sweet activity to do with kids, and there’s so much to learn here. If you want to take this activity up a notch you can also:
- Measure the space between the chalk marks every day with a ruler and track it in a journal together
- Revisit Biology 101 and talk about why plants need the sun to grow
- Harvest the beans and make something delicious out of them. (Personally I think they’d enjoy eating them right off the vine.)
