Grow a Bean Plant in a Bag in a Window

We just wrapped up a new science writing project, and the kiddos loved it! My instructional assistant told me that she grows lima bean plants in her window with a bag and some wet paper towels. I also learned that this can also be done with wet cotton balls. How cool!

I ordered some cheap lima beans on Amazon and decided to try it out with my kiddos. The plastic bags on my window sills didn't look cute, though, so I decided to have the kids help me spruce them up a bit. Check out what we did!

I read the class "One Bean" by Anne Rockwell, and we discussed it. We related it to prior knowledge about other things that grow, and we talked about what beans were. We passed around beans and looked at pictures of bean plants. Then, we "planted" our own lima beans in wet cotton balls. We used the scientific method organizer and writing paper/booklets contained in the pack below. The kids colored and cut out the paper watering cans, water droplets, and pots, and taped them to plastic baggies. The cut outs are also included in the pack below.

I made a complete set connected to the Scientific Method and made it into a How-To Writing assignment. You can buy that digital download for $4 here: