Growing Lima Beans

Growing a lima bean is something that completely WOWS my students every single year!  They are completely fascinated by the process of seed growth, and it really is quite amazing.

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We use a sandwich size plastic bag, a wet paper towel, and 3-5 dry lima beans.

We leave our bags open just a little and hang them on a bulletin board inside the classroom.

My classroom has NO windows, but the artificial light is enough to get those beans sprouting in 5-7 days.

I spray some water into each bag after about 3-4 days.  They kids are always so surprised that a plant can out of a dry bean.

This is one of those "simple" experiments we used to do many years ago.  My kids today are so excited about doing this lab!

We opened our bags today and the kids chose their BEST sprout to plant into a small clear cup with potting soil.  If they had other good sprouts they could gift them to classmates who needed a better sprout, or they could take them home and plant them.

Here are some of our sprouts!  The lima beans will grow throughout the month.  Kids will either take them home at the end of the month or we will plant them in our school garden.

Why not try growing something in your classroom?