Understanding Germination Materials Required: One pound plastic butter cup Sandpaper (80 grit) Scissors Watch or clock with a second hand Bean seeds Potting soil Four egg cartons Glue Marking pen Water Pencil and paper Often, the hard coat of a seed needs to be broken down before it can germinate or start to grow. Hypothesize, the seeds that had their coats weakened or scratched will grow ahead of the others. You...

Insulation with Soil  Materials Required: Two small soup cans Two large cans about 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter Two thermometers Soil from your yard Warm water A watch or a clock Many living things find shelter in the ground from varying temperatures, hot and cold. Some animals sleep on the ground during cold winter months. The ground protects plant bulbs and root systems from cold temperatures. Fill two small soup...

Under The Rocks Materials Required: An adult Several large rocks in your neighbourhood A strong stick Pencil and paper Which of the living creatures make their homes under rocks? Find it out by turning over rocks in and around your neighbourhood. You may find ants, larvae, worms, millipedes (many legs), centipedes (a hundred legs), spiders, crickets or beetles but watch out for creatures that bite or sting. Draw pictures of the...

Using Edible Colours Materials Required: Slices of banana, apple, peach, pineapple, kiwi fruit Food colouring Dinner plate Colours are an integral part of our lives. We see them in everything. Manufacturers use colorful packaging to attract consumers. Colours can also change our emotions and moods. Colours are used in holiday decors all over the world. Black and orange are used during Halloween and Christmas signifies red. A lot of blue and...

Sucking Up the Water Materials Required: A piece of cotton clothesline Two small, baby-food jars Water Some plants and trees have many little roots. Others have one larger, long root going deep beneath the ground. But add up the “sucking’ area of the small roots, with all of their tiny parts, called “root hairs”, and you can understand how such a root will gather water faster than a larger root since...

Moisture for Germination Materials Required: Eyedropper Bean seeds Water Plastic egg carton Potting soil Marking pen Paper and pencil Water is essential for the development of a seed into plant. We will carry this task with a bean seed, to see how much water it requires to grow. Hypothesize that a seed will not grow if there is not enough water. This often takes place in nature, when there is a...

Ground Temperatures Materials Required: Oak tree Pine tree Two thermometers A cold winter day Pencil and paper Deciduous trees are those which lose all their leaves in the fall. Oak tree is a kind of deciduous tree. Conifers are trees that stay green all year. Pine tree is one such example. During winters, is the ground underneath a pine tree warmer than the ground under an oak tree? Find a pine...

Retaining Freshness Materials Required: Four brands of plastic food-wrap A ruler Masking tape Spring-type clothespins Scissors A table Pencil and paper We have many ways to preserve food and to keep it fresh. After dinner, when there are leftovers, people often wrap them up in a plastic wrap or put the food in bowls and cover them with a wrap. If the air is to be kept out of the plastic...