Since my class has been learning about plants and seeds, I made this Seed Book to place in the science center.
The book is made with real seeds, seed packets, and zipper sandwich bags. Since sandwich bags are clear, the children can see the real seeds inside. This will give the children a chance to see real seeds along with pictures of the food or flower they come from. They can compare the variations in colors, sizes, and shapes of the different types of seeds.
Supplies you will need:
zipper sandwich bags
packets of seeds (I used old ones leftover from last year)
stapler
masking tape
printable cover
How to make the book:
Open a seed packet and pour them into a ziplock sandwich bag. Place the seed packet in the bag along with the seeds so the children will have a picture of the food or flower the seeds come from. The bag opening should be on the left side. Do the same with each type of seed and seal the bags. Print and cut out the book cover and place it in a bag.
The easiest way to assemble the book pages is to line up 3 bags and staple them together on the zipper side. Then, take two sections of 3 bags and staple them together. This will keep the bags from slipping too much when you staple. Six pages (five plus the cover page) are about the right number to staple together (more will be too thick). Make the spine of the book with masking tape, covering the staples so they won’t be sharp.
If you have a lot of seeds, you could make more than one book, and could categorize them into groups: vegetable, fruit, and flower. I made one cover which says “Our Seed Book”, but also made three other covers : “Our Vegetable Seed Book”, “Our Fruit Seed Book”, and “Our Flower Seed Book”.
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Something that I think would be a great addition to this Seed Book would be seedlings with 3 or 4 leaves, pressed and added to each page…if you don’t know how to do this, it’s quite easy…you can dry the plants out (rinse the dirt off the roots, first) by pressing in a plant press or use the directions for the microwave…
And while the plastic bags are quick and simple…I think laminating each page would work best…
Microwave Pressing – For best results you can use a microwave flower press that has been designed specifically for the purpose. I prefer this press because it allows greater air circulation.
When pressing in the microwave, be careful not to over do it. Start out with short bursts at a medium setting, perhaps 30-60 seconds, then experiment with the timing. Let the plant material cool between zaps. I open the press to let the steam escape while cooling, then repeat until almost dry. To save time, consider working with 2 presses, just zap one while the other cools and alternate.
While still in the paper, place your flowers in a book or flower press to finish pressing. This normally takes anywhere from a few hours to a day depending on the particular flower.
The Microfleur press is very good too, especially for very thin flowers; you can get one from Pat Smith at Sonshine Crafts…email her for details.
To make a simple microwave press: Use regular ceramic tiles, with rubber bands to keep the whole thing together. I’ve tried a lot of materials for the padding and what worked best for me is plain old paper toweling as padding, with the flowers placed between two pieces of regular paper, like you’d use in a printer. It’s important to put the flowers between printer paper so they don’t pick up any texture your paper toweling may have.
I’ve also substituted coffee filters for the paper with very good results, especially when the flower isn’t completely flat, such as roses. The coffee filters aren’t as stiff as computer paper so the flowers come out much nicer.
An even simpler way to press in the microwave is to substitute corrugated cardboard for the ceramic tiles in the instructions above. Try it! It works and will give you a feel for if you like like using the microwave before you spend the time and money for a more permanent microwave press.
This is just wonderful on so many ways!!! I would be delighted if you shared it with our readers on our kids gardening link-up page!!! ihttp://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/p/gardening.html
Thanks, Amanda! I’ll check that out.
i made a similar activity for our science center. the seeds were placed into empty plastic baby food containers and glued shut. i then laminated the empty packets and labeled both with numbers to match. the children also have magnifying glasses to explore the seeds.
That’s a neat idea, Lisa! Thanks for sharing!
This is so clever…love it.
Thanks, Jessica! Glad you like it!
oh what a really neat idea! thanks for sharing and inspiring!
Thanks Melissa!
This really is a great use of the “Plastic Baggie Book!” Thanks!
Heidi Butkus
http://heidisongs.blogspot.com
Thanks, Heidi!
Great idea! I’m definitely going to make one or more! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
I love this. Last year we did some studies on the Peter Pan seed dispersal theory. This would link in nicely with that. Thanks for sharing.
Terrific idea!
Thanks, Deborah!
Great!especially the idea of placing the seeds in plastics,for safety reasons.you know how kids wld want to experiement with the seeds.
Thanks so much for this! So quick, easy and useful. I made this book for my class this week to go with our Growing Things unit, and they’re loving seeing all the seeds.
Thanks for visiting, Julie! Glad your kids enjoyed the seed book!
Great idea!!
This is so creative! I am making one of these books this week!!! My preschoolers are going to love it. Thanks for sharing
I love this idea. I have seen multisensory books like this that include the soil and the water but you use blue hair gel inside the baggies to show that the seeds go into soil then need water then sun, which can just be a cut out of the sun or drawing. I think I will take your idea and add the sensory component. I will post a picture when it is finished. Thanks for sharing.
Mary
This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
For my special class, I would make this book interactive by making laminated velcroed cards with one or two seeds to match to the pages or to veg pictures.
A really great idea
This is a great idea! I am adjusting the cover page and putting the zippers on the right side. They are making their moms a little “garden in a bag” along with garden gloves to for mothers day. That way mom can open it, take out what she needs and seal the rest for another time. Thanks for sharing.
Love that idea, Angela!
Will be starting our Theme on Plants so this will fit nicely into it… I will also use some of the seeds for the kids to plant and watch them grow. Thanks Karen..great ideas!!
Loved your idea .will do it with my children .
Hooray ! Karen this activity is just what I needed for my 4 – H club
This is awesome!! I wish we were not virtual this year so I could do this with my kiddos. I am saving this idea to use when we see better times. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, Brianna! Hoping for a better future!