Egg Shell Garden

• Eggs
• Soil
• Spoons
• Water
• Seeds for planting
• Optional: spray bottle

Prep work (several days before activity):

• You might want to start saving eggshells for a few days leading up to this project. It is important to preserve the bottom ⅔ of the eggshell in a cuplike shape. To do so, take care when cracking your eggs - instead of hitting them against a hard surface, try tapping a circle in the top to separate. Save the empty “cups” in an egg container and the tops in a separate bag. 
• Sprout your seeds. 
• If you are using wheat berries, put them in a bowl and cover them with warm water the night before so they sprout.
• If you are using bean seeds, fold them into a wet paper towel and put it in a sunny spot until they sprout. 

Procedure:

• Gather your materials and set up a space to work - either put down a tarp or tablecloth or go outside. 
• Talk about how plants need nutrients in the soil in order to grow. Most plants prefer to grow in soil that isn’t very acidic. To make your soil less acidic, you can add something with calcium carbonate - like eggshells! Crush the top parts of the eggshells (not the cups) into small bits and mix them into the soil with the spoon. 
• Spoon soil into the egg cups until they are about halfway full. Dribble or spray some water on top, then press your sprouted seeds onto the damp soil.
• Sprinkle some more soil on top and wet it again. 
• Your eggshell garden is ready to grow!
• Experiment: to turn this lab into an experiment, decide on some variables to manipulate. For example:
• Plant different types of seeds in each eggshell and leave them all in the same location. Which plants grow faster?
• Plant the same types of seeds in each eggshell and put them in different locations - one outside, one in a sunny window, one in a bright room, and one in a dark room. How do they compare to each other after a week? Two weeks? 
• Plant the same types of seeds, leave them in the same locations, but water them differently - water one garden once a day, one every other day, and one once a week. Which grows the best? 

We want to see your at home lab experiments!
POST YOUR PHOTOS WITH #KAZOOMATHOMELAB