Seed to Plant Activity

 

Concrete Elementary School kids transplanting native plants at the North Cascades National Park Native Plant Nursery.

NPS Photo / North Cascades National Park

Below are some suggestions to creating your own seed board along with some extension activities:

1. You could travel to your local nursery, or general merchandise store (Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Target or Dollar General) or even take a walk around your neighborhood to collect some tree or flower seeds.
2. You may choose to sort and identify the seeds that you have collected.
   1. For the seeds you find around your neighborhood you could use the Family Guide for Fruits and Seeds to identify the different seeds you locate.
3. You may choose to display your seeds on a board by gluing the seeds and labeling them.
   1. An extension to this activity, would be to plant some different kinds of seeds and once the plants have grown, you could add the different kinds of flowers or leaves to your display board and label them as well once you have identified the different kinds of flowers or plants.
   2. To take the activity even further you can research the life cycles of the plants, flowers or seeds that you collect.

 

Line art drawing of the Big Stump, petrified redwood, with a ranger hat, badge, and name tag and the words, Leave No Trace.

NPS Photo / Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Teller County, Colorado

Remember this is an at home activity therefore this activity is prohibited at the park. Our actions can cause real harm to the native plants, animals and ecosystems within the park, so please help do your part in our national parks by abiding by the Leave-No-Trace Principles.