Does Spring seem to be a long way away? Here are some ideas for your child to try indoors.

Grow your own bean sprouts
You will need:
An empty yoghurt/cottage cheese pot (with a lid)
Dried mung beans

• Soak a handful of beans in water overnight.
• Put the beans in the yoghurt pot.
• Pierce several holes in the lid.
• Place the pot in a warm, dark cupboard.
• Twice a day, fill the pot with water, replace the lid and then slowly pour out the water.
• The beans will be ready to eat in 3 to 4 days.

Grow your own mustard and cress
You will need:
Mustard and cress seeds
A plastic bag
An empty pot
A paper towel

• Put the seeds onto a damp paper towel at the bottom of an empty pot.
• Put the pot inside a plastic bag and seal.
• Place the pot in a dark cupboard.
• When the seedlings reach a height of 5cm, remove the pot from the cupboard and place it on a window sill.

• Place the avocado stone in a pot of compost with the pointed end sticking out from the soil.
• Water the compost and then seal the pot in a plastic bag.
• Put the pot on a windowsill.
• Remove the bag when the leaves begin to appear.

Try some 'store cupboard' items and see if they grow. How about lentils, any dried beans, mustard seeds, poppy seeds, rice....will they grow? Some will take longer than others, so be patient!

• saucers or shallow plastic trays
• moist kitchen roll
• packets of dried food from the kitchen cupboards

Fruit pips

• Put some gravel in the bottom of a clean jam jar and add a layer of compost. Push the ripe pip from an orange or lemon about 1cm (0.4in) deep into the soil.
• Water, then cover the jar with a layer of clear plastic and secure it with an elastic band. In a sunny spot it should take about four to eight weeks to grow.
• Once the seedling appears, remove the plastic. And when it has three or four leaves, repot it into a small pot of compost.

Vegetable tops

• Just slice off the top, with a little of the fruit/vegetable attached and put into a pot of compost.
• Place them on a light, but not too sunny, windowsill and keep them moist over the next few days. Watch them grow!

Keep children interested

Growing schools

Growing ideas

How do I do this?
Let them grow food!
	Give each child a small part of the garden or a grow bag to produce food! Have a competition to see who can grow the biggest carrot. Who will have the tallest sunflower? Which tomato tastes better..red or yellow? How many peas or beans will you have?
	Or why not see what you can grow indoors? Plant the top of a pineapple grow cress in the shape of your child's initial All supermarkets sell herbs already growing. Introduce your child to these and teach them about flavours, cooking and decoration!
	Encourage the children to grow their own herbs from seeds and together delight in the germination and repotting.
	Other ideas The farm Take your children to the local farm. Here they will see the animals and in many 'City' farms they can actually touch the sheep and even milk a cow. In the spring there are Special Days when sheep rearing and baby lambs are on show. Children can also help to pick fruit especially strawberries, raspberries and visit apple orchards Let the child bring the fruit home and help prepare it for tea! Talk about all the fruit and vegetables that the children see in the supermarkets and allow them to choose their own bananas, kiwi fruit or grapes.