Our Plant Inquiry: Can You Guess What Will Grow?

Inside: Children will enjoy guessing what the mystery bulb will grow into during this wintertime plant inquiry.

Holiday Gift Bulbs

Give your children the gift of something green and growing this holiday season by bringing a mystery bulb into your classroom. You can usually find these in most stores during early winter.

You can purchase one for the whole class, each table team, or buy them in bulk so that each child has their own.

Launching the Plant Inquiry

Begin, by inviting children to look closely at the “mystery object” (i.e. bulb). Ask them to describe its color, shape, size and texture and tell whether they think it is living or nonliving.

Eventually, take guesses and then reveal its identity. Place it next to a seed and ask children to compare the two and share similarities and differences.

Give each child a Mystery Bulb Journal and let them predict what it might grow into and how long they think it will take to grow.

Observe, Sketch, Measure

Plan weekly opportunities to observe, sketch, and measure the bulb and record findings inside the Mystery Bulb Journal.

Invite children to compare the results from week to week and describe what they notice about the changes that are happening.

Beyond Blooming

After the flower blooms, place it in your Take-Apart Tub and let children explore it further.

Children can “dissect” the bulb to learn more about the parts of the plant they weren’t able to see. Ask children to describe how they plant is changing and tell whether they think it is still living or not.

More Ideas for a Plant Inquiry

A plant inquiry is a fun way for children to learn about the natural world and all that is green and growing around them. In addition to the mystery bulb inquiry, you might try one or more of these ideas: