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The Sunflower
Project was developed as a spring/summer science enrichment program for
children ages 3-9. The
interactive worksheets and hands-on activities provide children with
opportunities for further learning that can be conducted in either an
informal or formal classroom/home school setting.
In addition to planting
sunflowers, children can germinate any one of a number of summer fruit seeds and
watch them grow! A simple
follow-up to a popular classroom activity is to germinate soup beans, grow
these in containers, and then transplant to your garden.
As a companion to this
project, parents and teachers are encouraged to obtain a variety of book
from the library on gardening, plants and seeds, as well as make a special
trip to a community garden as well as your city’s botanic garden.
Sunflower Project
Photo Gallery
 
A plastic ruler
helped us keep tabs on the sunflower’s growth. The plants grew very quickly, growing about ¾” every
week. Bees and other insects
were constant visitors to the garden. Slugs too! Even though they ate many leaves, they were still cool.
 About two weeks into the project an animal (a fox or raccoon)
visited the garden and swiped a sunflower head off of its stem. The animal took a large bite out of
the sunflower head and left the rest on the small footbridge near the
garden. The seeds were
scattered all around the small bridge. We left it there for the birds.
 Besides our sunflower plants, we also planted Great
Northern and Pinto soup beans. We germinated
the hard beans in a damp paper towel and then put the seedlings in paper cup containers. We kept the young growing plants outside so they could
get used to the changing temperatures and the bright sun. When the new plants were about 3
inches tall we planted them next to the sunflower plants.
 After learning about the different mechanisms for seed
dispersal in nature, the kids decided to try a little wind dispersal of
their own!
By mid-August our sunflowers had wilted and most of the seeds in the flowerheads were eaten by the birds. Honestly, we mostly ignored the bean plants all summer. But then about a week after our last visit to the garden we saw small white flowers on the bean plants. By the end of August, just two weeks later we had bean pods!
(This project
was submitted to the Victory Gardens 2004 “Fast Food from the Garden”
contest. We wish much good
luck to the Frank and Zussman children who participated in the project.)
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