This week in nature class we talked all about seeds. Get the free printable, gather the fruit and veggies and come explore with us!
The whole point with toddlers is just to teach them how to observe. To wonder about the world around them, and to make comparisons with the information they have.
Just listening to the observations your little one will amaze you how smart they are! How they are little sponges that want to learn so much about our world.
We started our activity by grabbing fruits and veggies from the fridge we already had. I did not buy anything extra but you are welcome to go shopping and grab different seasonal fruits and veggies to compare.
I created the accompanying cards to match what I had and help our discussion, comparison, and observation.
Presenting the activity
Presenting the activity in an inviting way is part of making an activity engaging and creating a sense of wonder.
I grabbed an apple, green pepper, and an avocado. I placed it in a tray and matched up the card with the same fruit or Veggie.
I chose these three because they looked very different from each other.
I grabbed 3 treasure tubes and put them aside. Grabbed a cutting board and a knife.
Then I called my toddler and invited him to do our science activity together.
Observation time
We took some time to analyze the cards and talk about the seeds each one had.
We proceeded to open one by one to find their seeds. I let him choose which one to open first, second, and last.
I did the cutting and showed him where the seeds were.
Extracting the seeds
Using a cutting board and knife I went ahead and cut the pepper first in half.
Then prompted him to extract the seeds and place them in front of each card to see how each seed match the picture below.
We place the seeds in our observation treasure tubes to continue observing and bit losing them.
Things to observe
Discuss the color of the seeds you have in your tray.
Discuss how seeds come in different sizes and colors
Compare how much they weigh, which one is heavier and which are lighter.
Extend the activity
If your toddler seems very interested in the activity, grab a tomato and other fruits to discover their seeds and how they look.
This is a great opportunity to explore how different fruit tastes and because toddlers and kids are involved in this process they are more willing to try them and explore their taste.