What better topic for Kids Gardening than germination for kids.  There are several simple germination type lessons that can be taught, choosing the right one will depend on the age of the kids you are working with. 

If you are trying to teach basic, “here is a seed – this is what it does” I would suggest using big seeds, like green bean seeds, and planting them in clear plastic cups.  They come up so fast, this can be done for a project like Vacation Bible School so they plant the seeds the first day and take home a plant at the end of the week.   You can open some of the seeds and show them the little leaves and root that will be coming out when  it gets planted.  

 Another great seed that is good for showing the inside of a seed, is a peanut.  Yes, a regualar peanut.  If you take a peanut out of its shell, then open it up, you will see the beginnings of the new plant.  Check it out next time you open  a package of peanuts.

If kids are a little older, plant both a diocot (like beans) and a monocot (like grass) and show them how dicots have two seed leaves (di means two dicot =two leaves) and how a monocot has one leaf (mono means one, monocot=one leaf).

Germination for kids will need to show the beginning, a seed, then the seed leaves (cotyledeons), the root, and then the true leaves.  These are the basics and are easy to remember for young minds.

Another germination project other than planting seeds, is seed germination tests. Put 10 seeds on a moist papertowel and cover with another papertowel. After a couple of days you can show younger children what the germinated seeds look like. With older children, you can calculate the germination percentage. You can even make it a whole math lesson by making it a story problem. If you planted these seeds and now you know they germinate at ?? %, and you are supposed to plant them 1 foot apart in a 30 foot row, how many plants will we end up with?

Germination for kids video

The video below is a simple germination for kids video.  The main thing to point out is that the root comes out first, then the stem with the leaves.