When the weather changes, we see changes in plants. Fruits and vegetables are fully grown and harvested. Flowers have matured and are fading. Autumn is a wonderful time to discover where do seeds come from?
Where do seeds come from? STEAM
For this Counting Seeds STEAM Station from Experience Preschool, we were to cut open different types of gourds, set out tweezers, craft sticks, and bowls. Using the tweezers, pick out and remove the seeds. Then count the seeds and place them on the Counting Seeds chart.
We LOVE the STEAM Station ideas that come with our curriculum each month. They add so much fun and learning to our topics with exciting hands on activities. They also include printable Big Question and Inspiration Photos. Often they include charts like the seed chart included with this one.
We didn’t end up using the seeds chart because everyone was very engaged with using the tweezers part and trying to pull seeds from the sunflowers, apple and squash.
The cucumber was a bit of a trick. This cucumber was actually seedless, which I realized after I cut it. So no seeds in this cucumber but it looks like there were seeds inside. That was interesting!
We collected seeds from acorn and butternut squash. The kids expected to find MORE seeds in the butternut squash because it was bigger, but we found out there were nearly the same in each!
We had two different varieties of sunflowers and the seeds were different shapes and colors.
The kids concentrated very hard to using the tweezers. It was a little cold outside so it wasn’t very comfortable to touch the wet seeds but some used their fingers too.
I don’t like to waste the food we cut open for activities like this so we put them in the garden for the squirrels and other creatures that visit our garden.
This is why we love growing sunflower seeds! There’s so much value in these big bright flowers. From planting seeds in the spring, watering and watching them grow all summer, watching the birds, bees and butterflies visit and then we get to explore the seeds in the fall. The squirrels and birds enjoy the seeds too so get to see them often. I’d highly recommend planting sunflowers for your child care every year!
I’ll be adding more weather and seasons activities soon.
More Weather & Seasons Activities
I received curriculum from Experience Early Learning for honest and authentic stories resulting from my daily experiences using the curriculum. As a user of Experience Preschool for many years, I am pleased to share quality educational experiences. #sponsored #ExperienceEarlyLearning
