Object of the Activity: To be the first team to provide the 4 requirements to all of the team’s seeds so all may germinate.

See First Grade Adaptation under Variations.

·         Review needs of germinating seed: soil warmth, sunlight, water and air.

·         Divide class into two equal teams, the Bean Team and the Peas Team.

·         Choose 1 grower/farmer from each team.

·         Teams are positioned on opposite sides of the playing area either in a line or a group so that each player has personal space.   These players are the seeds to be germinated. There must be enough space around each seed so that the growers can safely move between seeds. The garden area may be marked by cones, but it is not necessary unless you are doing a variation of the basic activity.

·         Four colors of bean bags, representing the 4 needs for seed germination, are scattered in the playing area.

·         At the start signal, all seeds begin to jog in place.  Growers pick up ONE bean bag at a time to jog to place it in front of a seed.

·         When a seed has all 4 colors of bean bags, the seed has germinated and may join his/her team’s grower to help germinate the rest of the seeds.

·         Seeds waiting to germinate must keep jogging in place or performing another skill as instructed by the teacher until all 4 bean bags are received.

·         The team that germinates all seeds first wins.

·         Students with limited mobility may be a seed by doing arm motions instead of jogging or power walking.

·         Students with limited mobility could be a grower by throwing the bean bag to the seed instead of taking it to the seed.

·         The teacher must establish a start and stop signal prior to the start of the activity.  This would be extremely important to control activity and make changes as needed in the activity.

·         If the seeds are getting tired, change from jogging to walking in place, heel digs, etc. so that all players remain at some level of activity and are not just standing still.

·         If you do not have enough beanbags, use poster board squares or some other item in four colors. If playing outside, make sure the items will not blow away.  (see variation)

·         In a limited space, having the seeds become growers may cause accidents because too many students are moving at once around the space.  In this situation, have the seeds change to another skill (i.e. jumping in place, pretending to grow, etc.) rather than joining the grower.

·         If you cannot get enough bean bags for every seed, you may play that the team who has germinated the most seeds when all bean bags are gone is the winner. 

·         For a longer, more intense activity, growers could be allowed to tag the other team’s grower(s) which would mean the tagged player had to drop the bean bag and jog to his team’s garden before returning to the activity.

·         To assure all students actively participate, you can add the rule that seeds who are not moving cannot germinate, so any bean bags in front of them must be removed from those seeds by the teacher and returned to the playing field.

·         You could play a variation in which the grower must stand outside his garden’s boundaries and toss the bean bag to the seed.

First Grade Variation: Since first grade studies the needs of plants rather than germination, change the four categories to light, air, water and space.  You may wish to have students say the name of the need to reinforce the concept in younger students.