Monthly Archives: July 2016

My First School Science Project – Growing a Pea Plant (Part 2)

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Here I am again with more updates about my science project – ‘Growing a Pea Plant’. As I had promised, I watered the seeds every day and it has started to grow. Two to three days after placing the seeds inside the cotton balls, a small part of the plant was visible. Mumma said it is the root. The root holds on to the soil and helps the plant to stand straight. It also absorbs nutrients from the soil and helps the plant to become stronger.

After the roots were big enough (reached the bottom of the glass jar), the upper part of the plant came out. It was the shoot. This is the part where leaves, flowers, fruits come out. Since the plant is very young it had only two leaves, but mumma said these are not the actual leaves. It is only the beginning; new leaves will start to come out once the plant grows further. Here is how it looks:

science-project

This is the baby plant, it needs more water to grow into an adult plant. I have noted all the stages of the growth in my diary. To make it more interesting dadda asked me to draw the pictures of each stage. I noticed the seeds very well and drew exactly how it looks inside the jar. Mumma said pea plants are creepers, which means they need a support to stand straight. They can’t stand straight on their own, like other plants. So once the plant grows tall, we need to put a stick inside the jar, so that the plant can creep on it and stand straight.

At first I was not able to understand, what she was trying to say. But then mumma showed me some pictures of pea plants on the Internet. All the plants were either tied upwards or were provided with some support. Now I understand why we need to put a stick inside the jar.

Then I asked, when will peas grow on the plant? She smiled and said it is only a baby plant now; it needs to grow bigger to give us some peas. A lot of leaves will come out, then flowers will come out and finally they will grow into peas. That is how all the fruits and vegetables grow. Mumma said, ‘you have to take a lot of care if you want to get peas’. I wonder how flowers can turn into peas! God might be doing some magic to turn the flowers into peas. I will wait to see how that happens.

I was talking to my friend about the project and she told me that she is growing a bean plant. She also used a glass jar and cotton balls. She is also very excited just like me. I told her that there would be flowers on her plants, which would turn into beans one day. She was surprised.

Science projects are very interesting, just as our teacher told us. I will take the plant to school next week and show it to my teacher.



My First School Science Project – Growing a Pea Plant

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It is time to grow a pea plant! Wondering what is going on? It is my first science project. Each of us has to grow a pea plant and write the observations in a diary – the ‘pea diary’. That is what I will call my diary where I will write all about growing the pea plant.

I told mumma and dadda about the project; they said even they had grown pea and bean plants when they were in school. So I said we have two weeks time, so I would need a large lot, lots of soil and pea seeds as soon as possible. I want to start my project immediately. But they started laughing. Why are you laughing? I said. I am serious! Mumma said, yes we know you are serious, but all that you need to grow a pea plant is a glass jar, some cotton balls and two to three pea seeds. Really! Is that all? But we have all the plants in big pots, so how would a pea plant grow inside a jar?

Dadda said you can see it for yourself when you start growing the plant. Moreover, if you grow it in a glass jar you can see the progress in front of your eyes and take the plant to school easily. Yes, dadda is right! How will I see the plant grow inside a pot! Ok so give me a jar please and some cotton balls and yes peas as well.

We got started immediately. Mumma got a glass jar from the kitchen, some cotton balls from her dressing table and some peas from the fridge. She soaked the peas in water so that they come to normal temperature. She left them for half an hour. Then she took the jar and placed some cotton balls inside the jar. She sprinkled some water. Then she asked me to put three pea seeds towards the walls of the jar. I carefully picked up one pea seed from the water and placed it inside the jar. Then the second one and then the third one; then Mumma put some more cotton balls on the seeds. She placed the balls in such a way that the seeds were clearly visible. I was still wondering how a plant would grow without soil.

Mumma sprinkled some water on the cotton balls and asked me to place the jar near the window, so that it gets enough light and air. She said, you can see the roots come out within three to four days; but you must water the seeds every day. Not too much but a little water every day.

So I decided, I would water the seeds before going to school and in the evening before going to play. All this seems so exciting. I have seen plants, but never seen them grow. This time I can see the plant grow. I will write about the preparation in my diary today and keep writing more as the seeds grow into plants. I will keep you updated as well.