Collecting Seeds

 The start of this week has us looking at more seed collecting.  I've created a space in our Sensorial section to feature more seed collection work.  Along with this work is a an even greater opportunity to talk not only about harvesting seeds, but all parts of the life cycle of a plant.  Along with this new and exciting work I have the children using a collection of cards in a matching game to learn more about the life cycle of a plant.  I find this work not only timely for us but important as the garden slowly dies away and we are left with a bit of nature that isn't so flowery and beautiful.  It is important to appreciate nature in all it's stages.

 Today when I was showing this work to a child, he commented how soft and silvery the seed pods were.  I felt this was a moment to express how beautiful I found the remnants of the plant to be.  I loved showing this work today and I found the child completely engrossed and quiet taking it all in.  With this work we used our finger to split the seed pod open and collect the seeds in our bowl.  When we collected enough seeds we put them in a small seed pouch and labeled it with a picture of the lupin seeds.

Here we are collecting coriander seeds.  The smell was incredible.  Again, we used our fingers to pinch the seeds off and into the small bowl.  Next we used the scoop to pour the seeds into the seed pouch and we labeled it with a picture.

So this is what you have coming home this week and I have told the children that they may wish to keep the seeds for the spring and plant them in the garden at home.  The coriander seeds may be used to for cooking right away.  You may want to crush them a bit first.  Enjoy!