Playing with brains

Jr. scientist A was playing with a brain puzzle we have (yes, we have a brain puzzle). I picked up a piece and said "here's the cerebellum." Jr. scientist A picked up a different part of the cerebellum and said to me, "no, this is the cerebellum, it looks like a tree." I have no idea how he knew that!

Growing corn, a summary

Our corn growing experiment is finally at an end. We went from popcorn kernel to ears of corn. I have to admit I didn't imagine that we would actually pull this off. We knew almost nothing when we started - even mistaking the flowering part of the corn stalk for the corn - but with a lot of luck (and some research along the way), we actually grew corn. Jr. scientist A loved watching his corn grow and get taller than him. He was so excited when we got to pick the first ear of corn - he wanted to tell everyone! Now what can we try to grow next year?

Our experiment bears fruit (well, vegetables)

I didn't think it would work, but our corn experiment is actually starting to grow corn, and the tiny corn is getting bigger each day. The plants are now taller than jr. scientist A and are still growing. Who would have thought our humble little popcorn kernels would grow into this!

From seedling to plant

We planted our seedlings that we grew from popcorn kernels. We had a fun time filling biodegradable pots with soil, sticking in the seedlings, and planting the pots. I wasn't really sure if they'd survive the transplant, but we dutifully watered them every day. Within a few days we started seeing little plants poking out of the soil. Since then they've just kept growing and growing. It's neat to see what our little popcorn kernels are turning into. We're now working on trying our hand at baby carrots.

From seed to seedling

After a few fun trips to our local plant nursery, I thought it would be neat to show jr. scientist A. how a seed turns into a plant. We took a plastic container and lined the inside wall with a damp paper towel. Then we stuck a few popcorn kernels between the paper towel and the wall of the container. With dutiful watering to make sure the towel stayed damp and a nice sunny windowsill, we started to see some sprouting in a few days. A few days after that there were little purple roots climbing downwards and little greet shoots climbing upwards - how do they know how to do that! Tomorrow we're planning on transplanting our seedlings to a dirt pot to let them grow bigger.

Raising a butterfly

Our local kids museum has an annual adopt-a-caterpillar event. You get a very tiny caterpillar to take home in a small container. Over the course of a couple weeks you get to see it get bigger and bigger. Then, as jr. scientist A liked to recite, it would "build a cocoon, stay inside for two weeks, push its way out and be a beautiful butterfly!" (the last two words were always said loudly with arms up in the air). It was a really neat experience, although jr. scientist A was sad when we released our little friend into the wild.