After going in to work at 6 and getting off at 2, I drove to Alabama. I'd agreed to be a worker bee with a project the 4-H coordinator was doing with fifty first graders. We met at the Ag. Agent's house, to go over the program, and went to the school after carpool moms and buses got away. Teaching them about the basics of growing things. Like how a fire needs: fuel, air, and some starting source of combustion? Well, plants need the things that spell the acronym: PLANTS... not sure I can remember all of the different requirements to match up with the letters but I will give it a go:
Place (to grow), L..?, (light, maybe?), Air, N....?, T...??, Sunshine. Hmmm- water needs to be in there somehow. Just like me to sit in the back of the class and not pay attention...Good thing we are not having a test! It was pretty amusing. I'm Always glad I am not in charge, and can just stand on the sidelines, and jump in when it is obvious some little six year old needs more hands, or seems to be struggling.
The young person, probably a college grad., but they all look like they should be riding their bikes to work... was remarkably well organized. She had obviously done this more than once and knew the drill. You give each kid a short piece of panty hose, the kind that come up to your knee. Then give them a small waxed paper cup with about three tablespoons of grass seed. I think she said she was using rye. Have the kids open up the 'insert foot here' end of the stocking, and put the stretchy 'mouth' over the opening of the cup, then turn the cup over, so the seeds go into the toe of the hosiery. Remove cup. Then you give them a big red solo cup and have them fill with potting soil. Repeat that process of putting the open end of the stocking over the cup, flip it over, to dump the dirt on top of the seeds. Remove cup. Your knee-high is mostly filled with rich black dirt, with seeds down in the toe.
Basically that's it Then you say: open your hand flat, and pat the end of the stocking in your palm, until it starts to look like a round ball. You help them tie a knot in the stocking as close to the dirt as possible, to keep the seeds and dirt in place. If you are doing this with a bunch of kids, you will need to write on the bottom of the small waxed drinking cup, so they are identifiable. Have the kids put a bit of water in the paper cup when they get home, and the stocking will act as a wick, drawing the water up into the soil, so the seeds will germinate. The project was called 'plant people', so they were each given two plastic googly eyes they could glue on the side of that 'ball' of soil, to make it look like a face, so when the seeds sprout, it will look like (green) hair. You will need to tell them to let the glue on the eyes dry for a couple of days before they start to water, or the eyes will fall off.
When you get a picture of this in your head, and think about how it looks: sort of a 'do it yourself' Chia pet???
Reminds me of all those years I did crafts for Bible School/Music Camp. And spent hours and days getting stuff together, tracing, cutting and prepping, to have things ready for a thirty minute class. They would get done in about thirty seconds, after I had spent days getting it all organized, projects ready for them to assemble.
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