Plant ideas for an elementary school science project

December 6, 2008 12:13 PM

Need ideas for a good type of plant to use for a science project for my 9-year-old daughter.

Ideally the plants would fit in a medium to large size cup of some sort. She will be needing to carry four of them, so maybe they could be a little bigger than that, I'm not sure.

Is there something that would start growing quickly, but not get too big / tall over the course of 7 weeks? They will be grown indoors.

I was thinking perhaps some herb or other but I'm not sure which ones would grow too huge over that time period.

posted by marble to science & nature (9 comments total)

Radish would be good. Not too leafy, would fit in a cup and it has an easily measurable root for biomass experiments.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 12:19 PM on December 6, 2008

We grew herbs (mint I think?) and onion grass in elementary school if I remember right. As a bonus, you can eat them when you're done growing.
posted by Kimothy at 12:35 PM on December 6, 2008

As a teacher of high school level plant biology I suggest using coleus. You can get many cuttings off of one plant and they grow fast, but not too fast - perfect for a 7 week experiment.
posted by a22lamia at 12:37 PM on December 6, 2008

I always grew avocados for my science fair experiments.
posted by MsMolly at 12:39 PM on December 6, 2008

Will you be starting from seed, or will you want to start with small plants?

Beans are an old standby.

If you grew something cruciferous, or even snow peas, they could maybe grow outside -- particularly since you're in Austin.
posted by amtho at 12:46 PM on December 6, 2008

Beans are cool because of the way they grow. After they sprout, you can still see the bean itself on top of the stalk. The leaves then unfold from the bean.

If you have access to a store that sells bulk foods, you could buy several different kinds of beans and sprout one kind in each cup: Black beans, kidney beans, white beans, pinto beans -- they'll all sprout. They'll all look slightly different, but also similar. It could be a good lesson about where food comes from.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:53 PM on December 6, 2008

Oh, you're in Austin. Duh.

Go to Central Market or Wheatsville and buy 5 or 6 of several different kinds of beans. Get normal kinds and crazy kinds. Should be lots of fun!
posted by mudpuppie at 12:55 PM on December 6, 2008

Beans might not be a good idea since they quickly grow into long creepy-crawly plants. It's going to be tough for a little kid to carry around 4 bean plants after 7 weeks unless you plan on trimming them.

I would stick with a radish or herbs like mentioned above.
posted by nikkorizz at 1:12 PM on December 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Some herbs, like parsley, can be very slow to germinate. What hypothesis is the science project proving?
posted by Lycaste at 5:45 PM on December 6, 2008