Sprout Your Food

💡Skill: Planting and growing helps children make connections and ask “I wonder” questions, which builds curiosity!

Description

Did you know you can get plants to sprout roots and leaves, right at home? Use the leftover parts of green, white, or yellow onions, garlic, or romaine lettuce, and grow some roots! 

Materials

☑ Empty jar, glass, or plastic container

☑ The bottom of an onion (or other “sproutable food” you have at home)

☑ Observation Journal

Steps

Here’s how to explain this activity to your child:

• After we use an onion, let’s save the bottom of it. 

• Let’s put it in a glass that has some water on the bottom of it (bottled water or tap water that has been sitting uncovered for 24 hours works best). Let’s put the glass near the window where it can get some sunlight.

• Let’s watch it and see what happens! We can keep track of the growth of the onion in our observation journal.
  

• Let’s try some other vegetables we have — like carrots, celery, or Romaine lettuce!

Extend the Learning 

Use our observation journal printable to keep track of how the onion or vegetable sprouts, or grab some paper and create your own journal.  

Words to Use 

• Seed – it comes from a plant and can grow into a new plant
  

• Pit – the seed inside of a fruit
  

• Garden – an area where you grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers
  

• Leftovers – the food you don’t finish and save for later
  

• Sprout – to grow