Activity: Sorting Seeds

In this activity, students will learn to sort and describe seeds according to various characteristics, including size, shape, color and texture.


Materials

• Four or five different types of seeds. Try to find seeds and beans that vary in size, color, texture, and shape. The more variety, the better! [Examples: Bird seed or dried beans]
  

Activity

1. Give each child an assortment of seeds. Remind students to not eat the seeds.
2. Allow the children to have a couple of minutes to play with the seeds. Tell students to examine them, make patterns, or make shapes and pictures with their seeds.
3. Have students organizeseeds or create different categories for the seeds. To start, tell them to create piles of seeds that are the same color.
4. While students are sorting, on a board or chart paper, create four columns with the headings: color, size, shape, texture.
5. Ask students to describe the piles of seeds they created. Remind students that there is not one correct answer to these questions and that students may have decided to sort their seeds differently.
   How are the groups similar and how are the groups different?
   What do each of the piles look like?
6. Write the responses under the “color” column. Examples: red, brown, dark, light
7. Repeat, asking students to sort and describe seeds according to their size, shape or texture.