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Wildflower gardens are not only beautiful but also low-maintenance, perennial (they grow back every year), and very environmentally friendly. Wildflowers are great for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Attracting these pollinators will help any other plants or vegetables in your garden grow as well.
Air Dry Clay seed bombs are a fun and easy way to get kids involved in the garden. They can help create something and watch it grow year after year.
WHAT IS A SEED BOMB?
A seed bomb is a ball of clay that is packed with flower seeds that you wish to plant in the garden. The clay will protect the seeds from being eaten by birds and squirrels, and will give your garden the best chance to grow.
When you use a seed bomb to plant seeds, it is easier because you do not have to bury the seeds in the soil. You can throw the seed bomb anywhere. The clay around the seeds will protect the seeds until it dissolves due to rain and groundwater. Your seeds will get pushed into the ground and germinate.
Steps to Make a Seed Bomb:
- Roll a small chunk of Air Dry Clay into a ball. For seed bombs, I prefer to use this color- Crayola Air Dry Clay (Terra Cotta)
- Squish the ball into a flat disc, like a pancake.
- Sprinkle the disc with soil until one side is covered. This Seedling soil is a great option to give your seeds the best chance of growing healthy and strong.
- Cover the disc with Wildflower seeds.
- Gently fold the disc like a taco, and fold again, keeping all the seeds inside until it forms into a ball again.
- Store your ball in a cool, dry place wrapped in newspaper
- At the sign of the last frost of the season (early spring, when the temperature is around the low 60s), throw your seed bomb wherever you want wildflowers to grow.
- For a sparse Wildflower garden, make one seed bomb. For a lush garden, make as many as you’d like.
- In about 1 month, enjoy your beautiful, colorful Wildflower garden.
This activity can inspire several other science-based activities for kids who are homeschooled or just curious and love to learn.
- With a wildflower garden, you can spot all sorts of pollinators. Kids can keep an observation journal to track which pollinators visit, and which flowers those pollinators enjoy most.
- Children can keep an observation journal to watch the changes with their seed bomb as soon as they throw it. They can observe how many days it takes from throwing the seed bomb to the first signs of growth.
- Children can keep track of the temperature and weather each day until they see flowers grow and observe which flowers grow first.
- For a longer-term observation journal, kids can check in each season to observe the health and quantity of the flowers that grow.
- Children can practice identifying the different species of flowers that grow and draw what each type of flower looks like as it grows.
