Science Bite - Grass Heads

Find out how make your own grass head and learn about photosynthesis with this fun science experiment you can try at home or in school.

Always remember to ask your parent or guardian to help you.

What you'll need:

Cup of compost (preferably peat free) Handful of grass seeds Pop sock (or cut a leg from a pair of tights) 2 googly eyes or felt tip pen Saucer of water

Instructions

Step 1 Fill your pop sock or section of tight leg with the compost.

Step 2 Sprinkle your grass seed on top of the compost.

Step 3 Form the compost into a ball and tie a knot at the top.  Now you can use your artistic talents to design a face  (ribbons can look pretty on little girl grass heads!)

Step 4 Place your grass head in a saucer of water.  Keep it on a sunny windowsill and keep the saucer topped up with water and your grass head should grow a lovely hairdo in a week or two!

Find out more...

Did you know that plants make their own food for energy and to grow new parts? Photosynthesis is the name given to this process.

The necessary ingredients required for photosynthesis to take place are sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air.  So by placing your grasshead on a sunny windowsill, keeping the saucer topped up with water and using good quality compost to provide nutrients you are giving the grass seeds all the components they require to grow well. 

All green plants including trees provide something very important – the oxygen that we and other animals breathe.   Green plants use energy from the sun to chemically combine carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen. Plants use the glucose for food and release the oxygen into the air.  Almost all the free oxygen in the atmosphere is given off by plants as a bi-product of photosynthesis so they are very important (especially trees) for our well being.  

Find out more about our native trees: The Woodland Trust.