Last Minute - 5 Step Earth Day Project

Earth Day is quickly approaching, and if you’re an educator like most, you’re probably very busy, with a million things to do! But not to worry - we have a MEANINGFUL earth day project for you and your class, using things you’re almost guaranteed to already have on hand! Caring for our earth and understanding a food’s journey from seed to table truly go hand in hand. We believe the best way to help children to appreciate and care for their planet is to harness their inherent curiosity and engage them with nature right in their own classroom!

What you need:

Egg shells (as many as you want!)
Dried Lima beans, or any other dried beans on hand (kidney beans works great too)
Water or soda bottle caps, or old egg carton
Soil or shredded cotton balls
Water

Directions:

Talk with your children about what it REALLY means to recycle. I’ve found that children don’t always connect throwing a bottle into the correct bin with just exactly how it helps our planet. An easy way to explain recycling is “we can take something old, and turn it into something new, to help our planet by not wasting.”
You can rinse your eggshells if you’d like, but we left any residue in the egg shells to dry/harden to see if it could act as a “fertilizer.”
Place an egg shell half in each bottle cap to keep it steady, or use an old egg carton as a planter (as pictured). Scoop damp (but not soaked) soil into each egg shell (or use shredded cotton) so that it’s relatively full. Show children how to press the one bean, so that it goes all the way down into the soil. If using cotton, just be sure that the cotton is fully covering the bean.
Keep the soil moist, but not soaked, and kept in a well lit, sunny place. Enjoy watching the seed cycle alongside your children, and transplant any sprouted beans into a larger pot of soil, or garden! The best part, the egg is biodegradable!