Science Projects for Kids- Plastic Egg Greenhouse

Last year I found some giant plastic eggs in a clearance section at a local big box store. I didn’t know if I could use them for science projects for kids or maybe a learning game. For their low price I just knew if I bought them we would use them.

As with many things that you buy on sale to use next year, I forgot about them until was cleaning out a closet this spring. When I came across them I thought they would be great for some science projects for kids.

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That is when the idea for the Easter egg greenhouse came together.  After a little thinking about what to plant in the giant plastic egg, I decided would be the great incubator for a bean seed. The egg had two holes on the bottom that would be great for drainage and two small holes on the top.

Here is How The Project Worked:

We have a whole bunch of old dried beans that we have been using for math activities. I wasn’t sure that the tiny plant inside one of those beans would still grow, but I decided it was worth trying to see if they would grow.

The plastic egg was filled with potting soil almost to its rim. One of the dried beans was pushed into the soil, but not covered by it. I wanted my family and I to be able to see the changes taking place through the egg’s clear dome.

It took a few days of sitting in the sun and getting lightly watered for the seed to start to grow.  My son and I loved to see what was happening. It was great to talk about each stage of the seed’s growth. The bean seed seemed to change almost daily once if popped open.

Finally the tiny plants stem started running out of space to grow up. We had thought it might grow horizontally, but that ended up not happening. The tiny plant was bumping up against the top of the egg.

Along running out of space to grow up, the plant was very unstable. Its roots did not grow down. They stayed on the surface.

We had to make the decision to move the plant to a flower pot. The greenhouse was a good place to start, but the plant couldn’t continue to successfully grow there. We needed to have a part of its stem and roots covered in soil. Here the plant would be able grow taller and stronger.

Conclusions gained during this science experiment:

• The plastic  egg was a great place to start a seed.
• The plastic egg allowed the water to condense on the side of the egg.
• This plant seed probably needed to be planted under the soil for the roots to grow correctly.
• An old seed can still be planted and develop into a plant.
• Sometimes plants outgrow their container and need to be moved.

Here are some other Easter themed science projects for kids:

How to Make Spider Web Eggs

How to Make a Rubber Egg

Experimenting with Spinning Eggs

Floating or Sinking Eggs

If you try any of these science projects for kids , please leave me a comment below or leave me a comment on my Facebook page.