Growing Peanuts

Growing Peanuts

Materials

• Glass or plastic container (about six inches wide and four inches deep)
• Potting soil or earth without lumps
• Sand
• Fresh, unroasted peanuts in the shell
• Water

Directions

1. Have your child fill a container about two-thirds full of potting soil or earth without lumps.
2. Mix a little sand with the soil.
3. Remove the shells from five peanuts and place the nuts on top of the soil in your container. If you are using a clear container, place the nuts near the edge so you can see them grow.
4. Cover the peanuts with one inch of soil. Place the container in a warm, sunny spot and keep the soil damp.
5. In about two weeks, round leaves will begin to sprout. When the tallest plant is about five inches high, remove the other plants from the container and throw them away.
6. When the plant is about a foot tall, it will have yellow flowers on it that will fall off.
7. Smaller flowers that form on each stalk will develop fruit that will start bending toward the soil.
8. The fruit will push its way into the soil, and a peanut will form at each tip.
9. You can dig up the peanuts when the leaves begin to turn yellow.