Sid, the little lost seed

Seeds are the main way plants travel; thanks to them we can find mother and daughter plants that grow many meters apart.

In nature, seeds do not have humans to plant and care for them; so how is it possible that a tiny seed can become a big tree? Nothing better than a beautiful story to bring this reality closer to the youngest students.

Cycle:

• 2-6 years.

Duration:

• 3 sessions.

Materials:

• Children’s story Sid, the lost seed (click here).

Goals:

• Discover the functions of seeds.
• Understand the importance of the sun and rain, as natural agents, for the germination and growth of plants.
• Understand the seed as a form of resistance and propagation.

Development:

In this activity we will use a story to bring students closer to the germination of seeds in nature, without a person having to bury or water them. Since a simple seed can be the origin of a complex forest with many animals and plants, we will also use this story to approach this possibility and discover the importance that a simple seed can have, however small it may be.

Session I (click here)

We will begin the activity by explaining that since we know how we can germinate seeds in class to obtain seedlings, we are going to see how these seeds can germinate in nature, without our help.

We will continue with the reading of Session I of the story “Sid, the little lost seed”. Once finished, we will go out to the school garden and/or patio to observe the plants that grow in or near it.

We will observe the different types of plants and we will look for two identical plants (that have not been planted by man) that are several meters apart, at least. We’ll assume they’re mother and daughter and discuss how they think the daughter plant got so far from the mother if the plants can’t move.

We can also look for some seeds on the ground; with a bit of luck we will be able to find an anthill and observe the ants transporting seeds. If we find some, we’ll take them to the classroom and sow them… let’s see what germinate!

Session II (click here)

We will start the second session by remembering among all of us what the forest in the story was like.

We will continue with the reading of Session II of the story.

To end this session we will talk about the differences and similarities between the germination of our seeds in class and the germination in nature. We can guide the debate a bit by asking questions like: What did the seeds need in each case to germinate? Which seed may have more problems to germinate? why? etc.

Session III (click here)

To end the activity we will remember where Sid came from and what happened to him thanks to the sun and the rain. We will continue with the reading of the last session of “Sid, the little lost seed”.

After finishing reading, we will go to the school garden or a nearby garden in order to differentiate as many plants and animals as possible to be aware of the large number of beings that can live in one place.

We will also look for two living beings that are relating (butterfly or bee pollinating a flower, insect that eats a plant, insect that hunts, ant that transports food, etc). Once located, we will focus the students’ attention on them and ask what they see and why they think it is happening. If we see a bee pollinating a flower, we will ask and guide them to the answer “The bee is eating on the flower”.