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Germination Activity – Grow Seeds in a Jar!

by Angela Thayer 29 Comments

I am so excited to share with you a super simple activity that is awesome for teaching kids about seeds! I did this germination activity with my preschoolers and they loved it.

Seed Germination Activity

Here’s what you need:

  • jars
  • wet paper towels
  • seeds

Set several wet paper towels in a jar. Make sure to wring out the paper towels so there’s no excess water in the jar. Then place seeds in the jar, near the bottom half of the jar.

planting

If you do multiple seeds, label the jars. Then place them by the window and wait. After a couple of days, you will see them start to sprout!

seed sprouting

After about a week, they will really start to grow!

Seed Germination

We tracked the growth of the seed with a journal. (The printable is found at the bottom of this post.) The journal has 10 days to draw a picture of the seed growing.

seed journal

seed drawings

We’ve had ours growing for about 16 days and they now look like this! So fun to see them grow so tall and to see the beans and peas start to grow on the plant. The flower plant was definitely slower to grow, but the seeds were also much smaller.

seeds growing high

It was so fun watching the seeds grow in our window.

plants

I hope you’ll try this science activity out. To download the printable journal, click here —> My Seed Journal

To put the journal together, simply print the first page. Then flip over the page and print the second page on the back. Then fold the page horizontally. 

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Filed Under: Preschool, Science, Spring Activities Tagged With: science experiment, seeds

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  1. Ruhinda says

    December 7, 2021 at 2:44 am

    Did you water them daily??

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      December 7, 2021 at 2:11 pm

      I keep an eye on the paper towels. If they look dry, I spritz them with water.

      Reply
  2. Leslie says

    May 24, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    Do you happen to have a pdf of the directions for the experiment that you can share with me?

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      May 31, 2020 at 12:06 pm

      I’m sorry, but I don’t at this time.

      Reply
  3. Cecille says

    March 19, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    I am a Pre-K teacher with a class of 12 kiddos. Teaching remotely for next 4 weeks. Is there a way that I can send your seed journal page To parents to use with their child? I am mailing seeds out to each child.

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      March 22, 2020 at 12:26 pm

      Yes, you can definitely do that! So sweet of you to send them to your students.

      Reply
  4. Este says

    December 6, 2018 at 7:51 am

    Hi … do you have an example of a completed journal for the bean in jar experiment for comparison reasons?

    Thank you
    Este

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      December 10, 2018 at 9:28 pm

      I’m sorry, but I don’t! I can try to take a picture of it when we do it next!

      Reply
  5. fathima says

    July 22, 2018 at 12:44 am

    thanks a lot for sharing, definitely will try with my little one.

    Reply
  6. Kathy says

    April 5, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    If you soak lima beans over night in a cup of water they will triple in size. Then carefully peel off the outer skin and very carefully split the seed. Get your magnifying glass and you will see the tiny first leaves inside and the first root! Exciting for kids to explore

    Reply
    • sue says

      August 24, 2018 at 10:56 am

      do you use fresh seeds or dried

      Reply
      • Angela Thayer says

        August 28, 2018 at 7:00 am

        I used dried seeds.

        Reply
  7. Ms. Suarez says

    October 1, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  8. Priya srivastava says

    August 1, 2017 at 7:46 am

    Like the activity……. children will enjoy it ,

    Reply
  9. Katie says

    September 20, 2016 at 1:31 am

    Hey! I love this…just wondering exactly what type of seed you used?

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      September 20, 2016 at 2:06 am

      I used peas, flowers, and beans. I don’t remember which brand, but I think it was from The Dollar Tree.

      Reply
  10. shaney ali says

    April 26, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    really good..:)

    Reply
  11. cath cosslett says

    December 30, 2015 at 7:48 pm

    Hi,

    Many thanks for sharing your germination activity. I have been about ways in which my Y2 children could simply and regularly record the changes in their seeds over a couple of weeks and your seed journal is just perfect for them to do this independently.
    You have saved me time!
    Thanks.

    Reply
  12. Belle says

    April 22, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    Do I need to add water to paper towels regularly?

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      April 22, 2015 at 9:53 pm

      No need to add any water 🙂

      Reply
      • Andrew Moreno says

        February 15, 2019 at 12:26 pm

        What type of water did you use?

        Reply
        • Angela Thayer says

          February 18, 2019 at 7:03 pm

          Just regular tap water.

          Reply
  13. Rita says

    April 19, 2015 at 8:51 pm

    Hey! This may be a silly question… but how are they able to grow without nutrients from soil?

    Reply
    • Angela Thayer says

      April 19, 2015 at 8:56 pm

      That’s a good question! The seeds are able to grow from the sunlight and water, but they only lasted for about three weeks before they started to wither and die. I believe it’s because they weren’t in soil that they died. I’m not a scientist, but that’s just my guess 🙂 This activity is a way to show kids how seeds begin to grow. I’m guessing you could transfer the seeds to soil after they’ve started in the jar. Hope that helps!

      Reply
      • Coral Coombs says

        April 7, 2019 at 8:10 am

        Seeds contain nutrients (stored food) for the germination process, but need soil to continue to grow after it uses up the stored “food”.

        Reply
  14. Katherine says

    April 19, 2015 at 8:01 pm

    What a wonderful idea! I will be doing this with my kids this week!

    Reply
  15. Jill Dushey says

    March 30, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    Thank you! I just printed out the journal for my kids.
    They are so excited to get started.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 12 Unique & Creative Activities with Seeds says:
    April 7, 2016 at 10:21 pm

    […] Germination Activity – Seed in a Jar from Teaching Mama is a classic, not to be missed activity. Easy to put together and great for observation! […]

    Reply
  2. FREE Seed Germination Activity and Printable | Free Homeschool Deals © says:
    March 25, 2016 at 4:03 am

    […] is a FREE Seed Germination Activity and printable. You can watch seeds grow in a jar and record it in a free printable […]

    Reply
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