Every spring I get the urge to sprout some seeds on the window sill and watch them grow. It’s a great way to slip a little science into your everyday life — and kids love to watch the progress.

The Bigger the Seed, the Bigger the Sprout

Larger seeds, like beans and sunflowers are the best to use for seed growing experiments when you want to observe sprouting. Not only are they easier for little hands to grab and plant, their size makes for larger roots and sprouts.

Best Seeds for Speed

Pinto beans are not only large, but they sprout quickly and easily — as fast as 4 days! Lima beans can also sprout as fast as 6 days.

Cucumber seeds will sprout in 5 to 10 days. Bonus: you can plant them in your garden after watching them sprout. Now you can watch a plant produce flowers & fruit…well, a veggie anyway.

Best Seeds for Egg Heads and Grass Experiments

If you’re making an Egg Head or my Minecraft Grass Block, you’ll want fast growing GRASS seeds. We like to use Ryegrass. It can sprout in 5 to 10 days making it the speediest grass seed.

Tip: if you don’t need grass for your lawn, visit a Feed Mill or Garden Center that sells grass by the scoop. You can save a lot of money when you can limit your purchase to a half cup! Local tip: I purchased a dollar’s worth of ryegrass from the Valley Park Elevator — it’s still way more than I need, but so much cheaper than a $14 bag at Walmart.

Watercress and Chia are also a fun seeds to use for Egg Heads–you’ll get a nice head of curly locks!

Spring is the Best time to Start Experiments

You can start a seed growing experiment any time of year, but spring has it’s advantages. Spring is when garden centers — and big box stores like Walmart and Target — bring out seed packets, garden supplies and even kits.

You can certainly start your experiment in the summer or winter months, but you may have a harder time finding seed packets.