Spring has arrived early in Missouri and we’re ready to start planning and planting a little flower garden. I have a cute little place for flowers. I want to start the seeds by planting them in eggshells.
Gardening with kids teaches science, fine motor, and responsibility. Using eggshells is definitely for older children as they are easily crushed. If your child is younger, small paper cups work just as well.
Supplies for planting seeds in eggshells:
- Seeds of your choice
- Eggshells
- An egg carton for storage, ours just happens to be plastic but any will do
- Water
- Potting soil
- Sharpie markers as they don’t bleed when wet
About the eggshells
When breaking the eggs open, break off the narrow top. Rinse out the residual yoke egg to prevent them from becoming smelly.
Poke a hole into the bottom of the shell for drainage. It was easier to push the toothpick from the inside to the outside. Eggs are an amazing feat of engineering!
The flowers
I’ve always wanted a flower garden of zinnias and poppies. They bloom all season, are perfect for cutting, and their colors are gorgeous. My grandmother always grew moonflowers. They are also known as the evening morning glory. I remember sitting outside with her on Sunday night smelling those sweet flowers. Their blooms open at sundown and the aroma is amazing.What a wonderful memory!
Both of my grandmothers were excellent gardeners out of necessity, let’s see what happens!
It is fascinating how different flower seeds can be and it is fun topic to explore with kids. Discuss their size, count them, touch them, and review their planting instructions. Questions to ask:
- “What do you notice about the seeds?”
- “How are they alike? How are they different?”
Start by spooning dirt into the clean eggs shells. This is fine motor at it’s best. It requires gentle hands to hold the egg and eye hand coordination:
Label the eggs with sharpies:
…and then sprinkle in the seeds. More fine motor. 🙂
Tuck them into the dirt at the recommended depth on the instructions and spritz them with water:
Store them in a safe sunny place. This plastic container has advantages because the lid can cover and help contain the eggs. If they are covered they need time to air. Leave the cover open a bit or they might retain to0 much moisture, mold can grow, and the seeds might rot.
I wish I could say this has project has been successful, but we have to wait and see. I’ll keep them in a sunny spot and sprinkle with water as needed. I’ll post more picture in a few days to update the post. Hopefully, I have inherited a bit of my grandmothers’ green thumb and we’ll have some sprouts!
Twelve days later….
Twelve days later we have zinnia and moonflower sprouts! 
More gardening posts from CCK:
