Competition is fine if you win, but if you lose it's horrid and can bevery upsetting for young children. It is particularly unfair withgardening activities and the unpredictability of seeds.
Instead, children could learn about the variability of seeds by plantingthree or four in a big pot and observing how they grow at differentrates. Then, like real gardeners, they can remove all but the strongestseedling and watch it grow. Perhaps group the pots outdoors to make a'sunflower forest', with small-world people exploring it.
Children can notice how the flowerheads face towards the sun, exclaimover the height and eventually, perhaps see birds coming to get the newseeds. In autumn, pull up the plants and measure them.
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