Touch, Feel, Learn ~ Sprouting Peanuts

It’s time to explore the world around us and have some fun watching peanuts sprout.

We are critter lovers so if you come to our house you will find a large jar of raw peanuts in the shell by the door.  They are not for you to munch on ~ sorry!  They are for the squirrels, who often come up and bang on the door for hand outs.   My son wanted to know what happens to the peanuts that the squirrels bury and forget about?   We decided to sprout some peanuts and watch what them grow.

You’ll Need:

• glass container
• raw peanuts in the shell
• cotton yarn (white or cream)
• scissors
• plastic wrap
• water

What You’ll Do:

Fill the bottom of your container with pieces of yarn and wet it thoroughly.  Let the kids shell the peanuts and drop them onto the yarn. 

Cover the container with plastic wrap and place it someplace sunny.  Make you check your yarn daily to make sure it is still damp.  The great thing about sprouting peanuts is you don’t have to wait long to see something happen.

Day 3

  Day 5

  Day 15

Once the peanuts start to develop leaves you can remove the plastic wrap.   We are going to let our plants get a little bigger than plant them outside in the soil ~ hopefully we will have a few peanuts to harvest in a couple of months. 

Touch, Feel, Learn is a fun feature that focuses on science and nature activities for little ones.  Click here to see past Touch, Feel, Learn ideas. the