Tag Archives: planting and growing

Wildflower Seed Balls

May 10, 2024 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

by Mrs Wilson

Last year we planted some wildflower seeds in tyres in the garden and seeds from these plants have started growing this year. The children were keen to plant some more wildflower seeds and we decided to do this by first making some seed balls.

Seed balls are a really great way to plant wildflower seeds in your garden or outdoor area. Making the seed balls will not only introduce children to the variety, shapes and sizes of different seeds, but also develop their gardening skills as they learn about what seeds need to grow and how they can support wildlife in their garden or outdoor area.

“This seed looks like a little wiggly worm.”

“The bees will like these flowers when they grow.”

After planting and watering the seed balls the children are now looking forward to observing the wildflower seeds grow and hopefully welcoming some bees and butterflies and other creatures into our garden.

When the wildflowers have grown they will add a variety of colours where they have been planted, providing food and shelter for insects and other creatures. Wildflowers are also greatly important for pollinators such as bees so they can carry pollen from one plant to the next.

Why not have a go at home by following our recipe and help support wildlife in your area, or try the recipe below to make recycled paper wildflower seed balls.

https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/resource/make-recycled-paper-wildflower-seed-balls/

Sciences, Social Studies

Our Strawberry Patch

September 28, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Wilson

The strawberry plants that we planted in April have finished producing fruit so we have been very busy caring for our strawberry patch.

We have been weeding out some grass that has grown there and cutting off leaves that have turned brown.

We noticed that lots of runners have grown from our strawberry plants and we have been learning how to plant these using compost, pots, trowels, dibbers and watering cans, so that we can grow new strawberry plants.

One of the children thought it would be a good idea to make a new sign for our strawberry patch so we used some old wood and acrylic paint to make a new one.

We have also been developing our awareness of how we can care for the environment by reusing and recycling different items. We made our own plant food by cutting up banana skins, left over from snack, into small pieces and adding them to old bottles filled with water. After a few days, the banana water will be ready to use as plant food to help our strawberry runners to grow.

Sciences, Technologies

Our Potato Harvest

August 23, 2023 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

We harvested some of the potatoes we have been growing in our garden.

We boiled them to make some yummy mashed potato and used the leftovers to make potato scones for snack. So tasty!

Why not try our recipe at home-

450g floury potatoes, peeled and cooked
1/2tsp salt
50g butter
100g flour

1. Mash potatoes,add salt, butter and flour to give a stiff mixture.
2. Turn out onto floured surface, knead gently and roll out to a thickness of 1cm.
3. Cut into triangles and cook on a hot greased griddle for 4-5 minutes on each side.

I wonder what we will make next….

Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Sunny Side Up At Glenwood

May 31, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Burnett

Continuing our theme of Spring planting, what a lot we have learned from simply planting a few little sunflower seeds.

Back in March, to set the stage for World Down’s Syndrome Day we used fundraising seed bags donated by one of our lovely children, to sow some sunflowers indoors.

We scrutinised the differences between the seeds of the normal yellow sunflowers and a new red variety we had discovered.

“Awww the little white ones are so cute! It’s going to be all warm and cosy in here!”

We carefully followed the instructions on how to plant the seeds, learning what plants need to grow.

Keen to learn what was happening to our seeds under the soil, we looked at fact books about sunflowers and watched time lapse videos of the sunflower life cycle on the iPad.

We have been checking our pots regularly and when the sunny weather came, we transferred them to a sheltered spot in the garden. We ordered them by size and gave each one a number and a name including Bonzo, Sunny and Apple Crumble!

Developing our numeracy skills, we have been having a go at estimating and then measuring the sunflowers’ height progress, plotting the results on a chart.

During a sunflower health check, we spotted that two plants had mysteriously lost their leaves. On closer examination we noticed a rogue slug and problem solved together…

“Oh yuck…what will we do with the slug?”

“It’s just a baby one.”

“It will eat our sunflowers.”

“We have to take it away from Bonzo!”

“Maybe we could put it in the bug hotel for a holiday?”

Having gently relocated the slug off on its holidays and continuing to provide Bonzo and friends with tender loving care, we are trying hard to be patient as we wait for our sunflowers to bloom.

Roll on summer 😎

Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Let’s Get Ready For Spring…

March 29, 2023 Miss Abernethy Leave a comment

by Mrs Wilson

The children have been very busy over the last few weeks planning and preparing everything we need to get ready to start planting in our nursery garden.

We made a floor map to add our ideas about what we needed to do and what we would like to grow.

“I’m drawing rain at the top. Plants need water so they can grow.”

One of the ideas from the floor map was to plant pumpkin seeds so we could grow our own for Halloween. We learned that pumpkin seeds are planted on their sides and when they are growing they will need lots of water.

“There are lots and lots of weeds here. I need to dig them all out.”

We have been developing our fine and gross motor skills as we used trowels to dig out weeds and turn over the soil in our raised beds so the soil is prepared for planting. Some of the children remembered that last year some of our plants were eaten by slugs, so we decided to go on a slug hunt in the garden so we could remove them.

“This slug is really big. It’s all slimy.”

Using soapy water and sponges we washed out old plant pots so they are ready for planting our new seeds.

Potatoes are always a favourite to grow with the children at our family centre. We used our observation skills and magnifying glasses to learn about chitting seed potatoes to allow the eyes to grow before we can plant them.

“I can see the eyes. They are really small.”

To decide what we are going to plant we used buttons to choose our three favourite fruits or vegetables to grow in the garden.

“Strawberries are the winners. They have the most.”

We made a graph using unifix cubes to help interpret the results of our fruit and vegetable survey.

The children are now looking forward to planting in the garden. This will help to develop their knowledge and understanding about how the different plants grow and how to look after them, as well as the opportunity to taste a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables when they are ready to harvest.

Further information about growing fruits, vegetables and flowers and gardening with children can be found on the following websites:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/grow-it

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/tips-for-gardening-with-children/

Sciences

Runner Beans

April 26, 2021 Mrs Husbands Leave a comment

The children have been very interested to learn about planting and growing runner bean seeds for our new family centre. By placing a runner bean seed in a zip lock bag with some wet cotton wool and sticking this on to the window, the children were able to observe the seeds germinate as the roots and shoots started to grow.

“I can see the roots going down and the shoots going up.”

“They are going to be so tall.”

“The roots are getting really long now.”

After about 10 days the children filled some small plant pots with soil and carefully planted a seedling in each one and then watered them all.

“I will give them some water. They need water so they can grow.”

The children took responsibility for checking that the soil in the pots was not too dry and made sure each plant had enough water to help it grow.

“The beans need a little drink of water. I touched the soil with my finger and it felt dry.”

To prepare for planting the runner beans outdoors a handheld drill was used to drill drainage holes in planters, the planters were filled with soil and canes were added to provide support.

“I’m turning the handle round and round. I can see little bits of plastic at the bottom.”

To help carefully remove the plant from the pot without damaging it, the children learned about gently rolling and squeezing the pot with their fingers and hands. They were very interested to see how the roots had grown inside the pot.

“Look at all the roots. There are so many.”

When the children had finished planting all the runner bean plants they chose a sunny spot to put them in the garden and gave them a big drink of water.

“The beans are really tall. They have lots of leaves.”

Further information about growing runner beans can be found on the following website: https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-runner-beans/

Expressive Arts, Sciences, Uncategorized

Remote Learning- Sunflowers and other plants

June 9, 2020 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

Mrs Brown writes-
I have been keeping a close watch on my sunflowers since I planted my seeds and I am delighted with how much they are growing. I had to replant them into bigger plant pots and I have now planted them in a sunny part of my garden near a wall for protection from the wind. Every few weeks I measure their height. In the beginning I used a ruler to measure their height but now they have grown a bit taller I need to use a measuring tape. I record their height on a growth chart.
Perhaps you have been measuring the height of your sunflowers. Are they taller than Mrs Brown’s? We would love to see how tall they have grown.
While in my garden I got a bit annoyed because I spotted some weeds growing. Then I remembered weeds are just wild flowers growing in the wrong place and I recalled the fun I had as a child with wild flowers …..

Buttercups As a child I loved picking buttercups and holding them under the chin of friends and families. If you could see yellow under their chin it meant they liked butter. Why not try it to see if your family like butter.

Daisies Everyone loves making daisy chains. Not only are they very pretty, making daisy chains is great for hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.

Dandelions Although dandelions make me a bit cross when they grow on my lawn, they really are fascinating. You can see their life cycle over a short period of time as they change from yellow flowers to dandelion clocks with their fairy-like seeds. As a child I liked to pick the yellow flowers and flick their heads off, saying, “Mary, Queen of Scots, got her head chopped off!” (although we all know what they say about picking dandelions…) I also recall counting “one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock…..“ as I blew the seeds into the air and watched them fly away in the wind, ready to find a new place to grow.

I love this transient art idea ‘borrowed’ from Carlibar nursery, for making a dande lion picture. Why not try making a picture with items you find in your garden.

- Pupils, Sciences

Remote Learning- Sunflower seeds

March 27, 2020 Mrs Brown Leave a comment

Have you planted your sunflowers seeds yet? Mrs Brown has….. you can see how to do this on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/GlenwoodFC

This song will help you along the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da_LbBewte8

When your seeds have been planted they will begin to grow. After about 3 days the seeds will germinate. This means that the hard shell softens and splits. Roots will begin to grow downwards and a shoot will grow upwards. After about a week the shoot will appear above the soil. Then leaves will start to grow.

I can’t wait to see my seeds begin to grow into little shoots. Over the coming weeks we will find out what happens once the shoots get a bit bigger.