बागवानी सबसे आसान विज्ञान प्रयोगशाला है। ये गतिविधियाँ पाँच से चौदह साल के बच्चों के लिए हैं, इनमें सामान लगभग नहीं चाहिए, और हर एक के अंत में कुछ जीवित मिलता है।
Every activity maps to a curriculum idea — life cycles, habitats, decomposition, pollination — and needs less than twenty minutes of setup. Write to us for the printed activity pack.
Each one needs almost nothing, works on a windowsill, and ends with something alive. Open an activity for the steps. You need A rajma bean, a cotton pad, a glass jar, water The root always goes down and the shoot always goes up, whichever way you turn the jar. You need A notebook, a pencil, a flowering plant Butterflies work in warm sun. Your count will fall on a cloudy day. You need A handful of kitchen seeds, a tray, a spoon Big seeds usually grow big first leaves. Tiny seeds need to be barely covered. You need Paper, a crayon with the wrapper peeled off, fallen leaves Straight parallel veins mean grasses and palms. Branching veins mean almost everything else. You need A mango stone, a knife (with an adult), a pot of soil A mango grown from a stone will not fruit like its parent. It is still a tree. You need Spring onion ends with roots, a glass, water It regrows three or four times before it gives up. Then plant it in soil. You need A large clear jar, sand, soil, dry leaves, 3-4 earthworms The stripes disappear. Worms mix soil, which is exactly what they do underground. You need A strip of paper, a pen, a growing plant Growth is not steady. The gaps get wider when it is warm and wet. You need Clay soil, compost, native flower seeds, water Clay holds the seed still and the rain does the sowing. Use native seed only. You need Two identical seedlings in pots, a shoebox, scissors The boxed plant grows long, pale and bent towards the hole. Light is food. You need A straight-sided jar, a ruler, tape, a notebook One heavy hour can beat a whole week of drizzle. You need A shallow tray, potting mix, coriander or methi seed Cut, do not pull. It grows back twice more from the same roots. Sow roots now: carrot, radish, beetroot, in deep troughs. Free for classrooms and homes with credit to Grihvatika.org. Ask for any sheet and a person sends it back — usually the same day. Guess before you look. Ten questions about the plants and creatures in an Indian garden. Their roots release a substance that suppresses root-knot nematodes, and the flowers feed hoverflies whose larvae eat aphids. Companion planting is not folklore here — it is two separate, documented mechanisms. Caterpillars can usually eat only a few closely related plants; the mother is choosing food for her caterpillars, not for herself. This is why native host plants matter more than nectar flowers. Too much water, or a pot that cannot drain. Roots need air as much as water. Nine times in ten, yellowing in a home garden is drainage, not hunger. The dried seed. The leaf is also dhania — the same plant gives both. One plant, two ingredients, different names in different Indian kitchens. Air. Most of the dry weight of a plant is carbon it took from carbon dioxide. The most counter-intuitive fact in botany, and the reason trees matter for climate. Birds eat the figs and drop the seeds where they perch; the seedling needs almost no soil to start. The tree is dispersed by animals, which is why it turns up where nobody planted it. Nodules of bacteria that take nitrogen from the air and give it to the plant. This is why legumes are grown in rotation — they leave the soil richer. Good. They move air and water through the soil and turn dead leaves into food for roots. A garden without soil life is just a plant in a container. Water, not temperature, is the limiting factor for much of the year, so the growing season follows the rain. European gardening calendars do not transfer here; this is why. Genetically yes — a cutting is a clone. A seedling is not. It is how a household keeps one particular tulsi going for decades. Curriculum links, a term plan, a school-garden starter kit and the printed activity pack — everything we send to the schools we work with.Twelve activities to try
Grow a bean in a jar
Ages 5+3 days to sproutHow to do it
Butterfly watch
Ages 6+10 minutes a dayHow to do it
Seed sorting
Ages 5+20 minutesHow to do it
Leaf rubbings
Ages 5+15 minutesHow to do it
Sprout a mango stone
Ages 7+2-3 weeksHow to do it
Regrow a spring onion
Ages 5+1 weekHow to do it
Build a worm hotel
Ages 8+1 hour, then 2 weeksHow to do it
Measure your plant
Ages 6+2 minutes a weekHow to do it
Make a seed bomb
Ages 6+30 minutes, dry for 2 daysHow to do it
Chase the light
Ages 7+2 weeksHow to do it
Keep a rain gauge
Ages 8+5 minutes a day in the rainsHow to do it
Sow a windowsill salad
Ages 5+3 weeks to harvestHow to do it
Where to go next
Grow this month
अजवाइनअजवाइनA winter annual of the north-west, grown for the thyme-scented seed.Sow Oct–NovगाजरगाजरNeeds depth more than width — a 30 cm trough of loose soil beats a wide…Sow Oct–DecचनाचनाA winter pulse that also gives the sour green leaf of the north.Sow Oct–NovचुकंदरचुकंदरRoots below, usable leaves above, and it tolerates a container better than carrot.Sow Oct–DecधनियाधनियाBolts in heat, thrives in the cool months. Sow every fortnight for a steady supply.Sow Jan–Feb, Oct–DecबथुआबथुआThe winter weed worth sowing — mineral-rich leaves through the cold months.Sow Oct–Dec
Printables
PDFA4, 1 pagePlant observation sheetDraw it, measure it, date it. One sheet per plant, per week — the habit that turns growing into science.एक प्रति मँगाएँ →PDFA4, 2 pagesSeed experiment cardBean in a jar, and four variations that change one thing each: light, water, warmth, depth.एक प्रति मँगाएँ →PDFA4, 8 pagesGarden journalSown on, sprouted on, first flower, first harvest. A whole term of observation in one booklet.एक प्रति मँगाएँ →PDFA4, printableKids activity sheetsThe twelve activities, one printable sheet per activity, with what you need and what to watch for.एक प्रति मँगाएँ →PDFA4, 24 labelsLeaf and flower press labelsName, place, date. What separates a pressed leaf from a herbarium record.एक प्रति मँगाएँ →
Nature quiz
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For teachersTeaching with a garden?
Free, for home gardeners across India. We review each request within two working days and email you a link to set your password.
