How Plants Travel To Find Light

Try this fun experiment with your kids this summer! 

All you need is:

shoe box

tape

small plastic cup

soil

2 bean seeds

(and a little patience)

Cut the shoe box lid into 2 rectangular pieces so the width equals the width of the shoe box and it reaches just right into the middle of the box after you bend it. Tape it to the box the way you see it on the picture below. Cut a hole on top of the box.

Fill cup with soil and place 2 bean seeds on top, covering them little bit with the soil. Now place the cup into the box and place the box by a window so the cup receives direct sunlight. Water it and keep moist throughout the whole experiment. When your plants reach 2 inches, leave the box at the same spot but turn it away from the sun. We turned and tilted ours to have the hole face the sun. 

Over the next couple weeks, watch the plant travel to the light. It's quite amazing how this works!

Talk with the kids how important light is for plants. They will turn, bend over, and bend over backwards to go find it and this is the proof!