Windowsill Projects

We currently have some science projects on our windowsill. The first is an apple decomposing. We had an apple that was starting to rot and decided to watch its changes. We noticed the crisp red flesh turning mushy and wrinkled. We watched as small mold spores started to grow near the stem. We felt the squishy texture.

The second project is growing an avocado plant from a seed. Step one: remove avocado seed from the flesh. Step two: rinse off any of the fruit still clinging to the seed. Step three: place three toothpicks in the seed about a third from the top equidistant from each other at a diagonal angle. The bump should go on the bottom. Step four: place in a container of water so the bottom half of the seed is immersed in water. Step five: place in a sunny window. We watched a few videos on how to grow these plants. One said to start it with the seed in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag. Another said it's easier to grow if you take off some of the skin from the seed near the bump. We also tried growing the avocado seed in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag.

The third project is sprouting apple seeds. We counted 7 seeds in a small apple. We washed the seeds and placed them in a damp paper towel. We placed the paper towel in a plastic bag and placed it on the sunny window sill. After a week we put the seeds in the fridge since I read that they grow in the cold but they still look the same.

 Two weeks after we started the avocado seed project, cracks are forming on the top and bottom of our avocado seeds. The top picture is of an avocado seed that has been in water and the bottom picture is of an avocado seed that has been in a damp paper towel.