Get growing with your children this Easter by sowing some Sunflower seeds. It’s extremely easy to do, all you need is a bit of soil from the garden or compost, a plastic tub or yogurt pot and some sunflower seeds.

We also scattered some seeds onto the flower beds as my daughter got a bit enthusiastic with wanting to take seed out of the packets and throwing it onto the soil. If they don’t grow in the ground, the birds would have eaten it so win, win!

You will need:

• A plastic tub or a rinsed out yogurt pot,
• Some garden soil or compost,
• Some sunflower seeds
• A lolly stick and pen
• Water
• A sunny windowsill that’s not too cold.

How to Sow Sunflower Seeds with Children

1. Put some compost or soil into your yogurt pot or plastic tub, about half way up should be enough.

2. Open the sunflower seed packet and tip out some seeds into your hand. Ask your child to take some of the seeds and put them on the soil in the pot or tub.

It doesn’t matter if they are all put in one place just give the tub a shake so the seeds find a level on top of the compost.

3. Cover the seeds with a bit more soil or compost or just poke them into the soil.

4. Water the soil so it’s wet and add a lolly stick with your child’s name written on it. This way they can own the sunflowers.

5. Put the pot or tub on a light window sill and in a weeks time you should see some seedlings pop up.

Create excitement and show your child what is happening to the plant as it grows and call it the name of your child, I.e. name’s sunflowers.

Skills that children can learn by doing gardening:

• Learning how plants grow from seed,
• Excitement of watching the seed germinate into a seedling,
• Cause and effect – if I sow a seed, what will happen next, a plant needs water to grow etc.
• Confidence and achievement – from 1 tiny seed comes a giant sunflower,
• Awareness of their environment and and what grows there,
• Confidence – gardening boosts self-esteem and it helps them engage with nature.
• Health and nutrition – getting fresh air and learning about where food comes from.

Other Seeds to Sow with children in March:

• Marigolds – These seeds look like little twigs, but germinate very quickly, within a week.
• Herbs like coriander and parsley can be sown now in pots or seed trays,
• Tomatoes – you’ll only need two seeds to a small pot and it may take up to 2 weeks to germinate in an unheated mini greenhouse (remember to protect from frost).