Growing Bean Plants - A BLAST For Kids Of All Ages

I'm a teacher's aide at an elementary school and I'm constantly flabbergasted at what the kids are learning!  Sure, I've seen this stuff before, but not in a long time, and it's fun asking the kids to explain to me what they're doing. Thus, I was thrilled when the 4^th graders recently showed me the interesting plants growing on their desks. 

They were growing bean plants from ordinary beans and the plants looked incredible!

My bean plant growing in dirt - I'm having so much fun growing it!

So I asked them to teach me (or re-teach me since I'd grown them when I was in school eons ago). 

Bean plants are great for any kid (or adult) to cultivate because they require very little care and sprout so quickly you can virtually watch them grow. Here's what you'll need to start:

Any unused beans are going into chili.

Dried beans – I purchased a bag of Goya beans. I separated out the lima beans (which the family won't eat anyway) because they're big and easy to see. I saved the rest of the beans for use in chili.

A paper towel

A small dish

Here's what you do:

1.  Wet a paper towel and fold it so it fits inside the dish. 

2.  Slide a bean or two between the folds of the wet paper towel.

3.  Wet the towel every day (if it dries out, sometimes I wet it twice)

Could it BE any easier?!!

In a day or so, you'll see the bean start to crack and a green shoot emerging. When the shoot is an inch long, plant it in dirt. 

Future bean plants.

Again, you'll be amazed at how fast your plant will grow. 

For an incredible stop-action clip showing the process from bean to plant, visit http://www.instructables.com/file/F0GT0TJFW4JU0VO/.

Thanks for reading!!!