Discuss
What things are soaked before cooking in your house? Why?
What things do you eat after sprouting? How are they sprouted? How much time does it take?
Has the doctor or someone you know ever told you to eat sprouts? Why?
Do this and find out
Do you remember that in Class IV you did an activity with seeds? Now try another one.
Take some chana and three bowls
Put five chana in the first bowl and fill it up with water.
Put a damp piece of cloth or some cotton wool in the second bowl. Now keep the same number of chanas in it. Make sure that the cotton wool or cloth remains wet.
Put the same number of chanas in the third bowl. Do not put anything else in it. Cover all the three bowls.
Tell and write
In which bowl did the seeds sprout? What difference did you see between this bowl and the other bowls?
Why did Gopal’s mother tie the chana in a damp cloth?
Draw
Look carefully at your sprouted chana and make its drawing?
Project : Plant your seeds
Take a clay pot or a tin can with a wide mouth. Make a small hole at the bottom of the can. Fill your can with soil. Put four or five seeds of the same kind in the soil and press them gently. Different groups can plant different kinds of seeds, such as mustard (sarson), fenugreek (methi), sesame (til) or coriander (dhania).
Write
Name of the seed : _
The date on which you planted them:
The day you observe something coming out of the soil, start filling the table:
Find out
How long did it take for the plant to come out from the soil?
What was the difference in the height of the plant on the first and second day?
On which day did the height of the plant increase the most?
Did new leaves come out of the plant every day?
Was there any change in the stem of the plant?
Discuss
Which seeds took the most number of days for the stem to come out of the soil?
Which seeds took the least days to come out of the soil?
Which seeds did not grow at all? Why?
Did anyone’s plant dry up or turn yellow? Why did this happen?
What would happen if the plants do not get water?
Straight from your heart
What is inside the seed?
How does a big plant grow from a tiny seed?
Think and imagine
What would happen if plants could walk? Draw a picture.
Find out
Do some plants grow without seeds?
Think
Did you keep aniseed (saunf ) and cumin (jeera) in your list?
Which was the smallest seed and which was the biggest seed in your collection?
Make lists of :
Seeds that are used as spices in your home.
wSeeds of vegetables.
Seeds of fruits.
Light seeds (check by blowing them).
Seeds which are flat.
Make more groups. How many groups of seeds did you make?
Do you know any games that you can play with seeds? Discuss with your friends.
Have you ever seen any seed that can fly?
What is it called in your area?
Look at your seed collection. Guess how many of those could have travelled by flying.
Look at picture 2. This seed cannot fly, but it can still travel by sticking on to the fur of animals or on our clothes. In this way it gets a free ride! Did you get any new idea from these seeds? Read how the idea of Velcro came to George Mestral.
Some plants spread their seeds over long distances. When the soyabean pods are ripe, they burst and the seeds are thrown out. Have you ever heard their sound?
Think what would happen, if seeds did not spread and remained at one place only.
Make a list of the different ways by which seeds are spread.
Who came from where?
Have you included human beings also in your list? Yes, we also carry seeds from one place to another, knowingly or unknowingly. We bring the seeds of plants that we find beautiful or useful, to grow them in our garden. Later the seeds of these plants spread to other places. Many years later people may not even remember that these plants did not grow here earlier. They were brought from somewhere else. Do you know from where chillies came to our country? These were brought to India by traders coming from South America. Today we cannot think of food without chillies!
