The Spring planting season has officially begun!

Potatoes are easy to grow so they are a great starter plant if you are new to gardening or new to growing vegetables with children.

We bought seed potatoes from our local garden center.

We introduced growing potatoes to the children by gathering at our meeting place, examining them, and sharing everything we knew about potatoes including how we like to eat them. The children were very amused to learn potatoes had eyes and new plants sprout from their eyes.

Next, we counted the potatoes. We had forty-five. This step is a nice way to include a quick, practical math mini-lesson. We counted using one-to-one correspondence, we arranged the potatoes in nine rows of five, we counted to a large number for preschoolers and we built a visual representation of that number. 

Our final step for now was to invite each child to choose two potatoes to put into an egg carton. We put the potatoes in a warm, sunny window. They will stay there for a week or two so they can sprout. During this time, we will be observing our potatoes with our eyes and with magnifying lens to notice how they change.

Check back soon to follow our potato learning journey and find out what happens next. Until then, you can learn more about growing potatoes by watching two short videos. Click here and here.