Home Grown Idea

Here are some other things to do with your family or friends while learning about plants:

• Take a walk around the neighborhood and look for plants and their parts.

• Have a tasting party. Sample raw or cooked root vegetables such as carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, or radishes.

• Plant the tops of root vegetables. Cut off the root vegetable at its fattest end. Leave about 1/2 inch of the vegetable. Place it on a water-filled saucer until it begins to sprout. When it sprouts, place it in soil. The best vegetables to sprout are those that have a part of the stalk at the top like a carrot. It is best to try more than one top at a time as not all of them will sprout.

• Take a family walk around the neighborhood. Collect samples of many different types of leaves. Make a collection of the leaves that you find. Dry the leaves between sheets of newspaper. Put a heavy book on top and leave them for a week or more. Tape the leaves to sheets of construction paper or iron the leaves between sheets of wax paper. (Before using an iron, ask an adult to help you!) Then look at the different shapes of the leaves. Look at the midrib and at the veins. Count how many parts each leaf has. Find out what this plant is.

Congratulations! You've solved Case #1. Now go on to Case #2: Soiled Again!