By Kathy Bego, Garden Educator
Seeds you could peel, pry open, and peer into with magnifying glasses—searching for the tiny leaves and roots hidden inside.
Seed diagrams to color in:
🔴 Red for the seed coat
🟢 Green for the embryonic leaf
🟡 Yellow for the cotyledon food pack
🟤 Brown for the root
A crunchy seed snack of cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and popcorn.
A long seed pod to crack open, popping the saved bean seeds into a decorated envelope, ready for sharing.
Was this a college botany class? No! It was a hands-on seed exploration for first and second graders at Oriole Park Elementary School. What better way to brighten a chilly February day as snow piled up on their school garden?
H.O.P.E teachers first captured the students’ curiosity with our beautiful slide deck, then guided them in coloring their seed diagrams. Our three teachers then led small groups through bean seed dissections, seed tasting, and seed saving.
In May, these saved seeds will be exchanged among Wyoming Elementary schools, with extra envelopes donated to other groups—continuing the cycle of learning and sharing!
