Crispy, Crunchies

About a week ago, we started some water cress seeds in a shallow dish. We sprinkled the seeds on top of some shredded paper towels, and used our nifty little pipettes to water them. We put the dish in a sunny windowsill and watched and waited. We quickly learned that the water dries up really fast in those hot windowsills! We had to water our seeds several times a day to make sure that they didn't dry out.

We speculated that water cress seeds have to be the fastest growing seeds in the world. We are pretty sure that they were growing every time we turned away or when we blinked, because when we came back to check on them even moments later they were significantly changed. You can almost sit and watch them grow and you can certainly see them develop from seed into seedling over the course of a day. It was pretty exciting to see those little seeds take over that dish over the course of a couple of days. As Tater Tot put it, "It's like we have a little jungle in here!" It really was pretty cool looking, and we were looking forward to sampling them as well.

Notice I'm using past tense.

Remember how we talked about the importance of frequent watering?

Another science lesson learned: Plants cannot survive without water. When I tried to introduce words like "dehydration" and "capillary action", the kids eyes glazed over a bit. Fortunately, Doodle Bug jumped in and cut straight to the chase though. "Without water, they shrivel up and turn into crispy, crunchies!" And once they reach that stage in the Plant Life Cycle, there is no bringing them back. No matter how much water you flood them with.