Magic Bean Stalk
Materials: Glass mason jar, cotton balls, and dried beans (broad beans, kidney beans, and lima beans all work)
Instructions
- Grab a large handful of cotton balls and run them under water until they are wet, but not so soaked that they are dripping excess water.
- Place the wet cotton balls in the bottom of the mason jar
- Position the dried beans between the cotton balls and towards the side of the glass so you can see them – this will be your window into the hidden world of the growth process that usually takes place underground! (Hint: Plant two or more beans so that if one does not grow, you’ll still have the other!)
- Spray the cotton balls with water each day so they remain wet
- Make predictions about what might happen and what the plant will look like each day! You can even keep a seed journal to draw pictures of your observations or plant multiple jars with different types of beans to see how they differ.
- Once the beanstalk has reached the clouds (or becomes a little too tall for your jar) it can be transplanted into the soil with a trellis to climb up or potted indoors in a larger pot if the climate does not allow