Help children understand that plants grow from seeds and are part of the wonderful world around us.

In this programing activity children will discuss elements that are important for plants to grow - air, water, food.

Materials

• lima beans, soak in water overnight
• magnifying glasses
• illustration of lima bean with baby plant inside

Pre-Story Activity

Give each student a seed, lima bean, that has been soaked in water so it is easier to open. Show them how to open the seeds carefully. Ask students to see if they can find out how a seed turns into a plant. After looking on their own, have them help friends find out why. Have them talk about it with their groups as they look. Make sure every child sees a baby plant.

Story

Titch, by Pat Hutchins
Titch is little. Everything he has is little -- his little pinwheel, his little tricycle. He even plays a little whistle. Peep.
Pete and Mary are big. Everything they have is bigger than Titch's, and better. Their big bikes go faster. Their big kites fly higher. And their huge instruments are much louder. BANG!
But then Titch gets a little seed. And what comes from it is a hundred times bigger then anything Pete and Mary could ever have!

Post Story Activity

Discuss how they now know where a plant begins. Can it grow where they left it? What does it need to grow? What are some things that you need to grow? (Water, food, sunlight)

Other Books

Jack's Garden, by Henry Cole
"Building on a rhyme that will be familiar to many children, author-illustrator Cole creates an enticing guide to creating a garden. 'This is the garden that Jack planted...' The final illustration presents a satisfied-looking boy surrounded by a lush, bird-filled flower garden....A concluding page of gardening suggestions serves as a springboard to books with more specific guidelines."--Horn Book.

From Seed to Plant, by Gail Gibbons
Kindergarten-Grade 2-- A simple introduction to how plants reproduce, discussing pollination, seed dispersal, and growth from seed to plant. The section on pollination, covered in detail in the illustrations, is very clear. A simple project--how to grow a bean plant--is included. A final page gives odd and unusual facts. Unfortunately, the text is pedestrian and occasionally awkward. The boldly colored illustrations are casual, somewhat careless, and some plants are hard to recognize. Other books cover the same subject with more excitement in language and zest in visual design. Bean and Plant (Silver Burdett, 1986) by Back, Reason for a Flower (Putnam, 1983) by Heller, or Lauber's Seeds: Pop, Stick, Glide (Crown, 1981) are better titles. --School Library Jounral

The Reason for a Flower, by Ruth Heller
The reason for a flower is to manufacture seeds, but Ruth Heller shares a lot more about parts of plants and their functions in her trademark rhythmic style. "[An] extravagantly beautiful creation. It is unusual in its ingenious way of teaching botany and interesting words to the littlest of readers." -- Publishers Weekly