(Intro)

J: Plants are all around you.  You walk on them, eat them, and maybe you've even climbed one, and guess what?  You can even grow your own plants.  It's fun and you can do it right at home.  Most plants need three main things to grow: water, soil, and sunlight.  Plants need water so they don't dry up.  They also need soil for the nutrients that keep them healthy, and for a nice sturdy place where they can spread out their roots as they grow, and they need sunlight for energy, because plants can make their own food from sunlight.  It's called photosynthesis.

Imagine if all you had to do for lunch was stand out in the sun for a while.  If you give seeds good soil and some sunlight and remember to water them, they'll grow into plants.  But what happens if you take away one of those things?  Do you think a plant can grow if you keep it out of the sun or if you don't give it water or if you don't give it good soil?  Let's find out by doing an experiment.  

For our experiment, we'll try to grow four plants in different ways.  One plant will have everything it needs: sunlight, water, and soil.  Then, we'll have plants that are each missing one of the things plants need.  One plant won't have any sunlight at all.  Another won't have any water, and we'll plant the last one in sand instead of soil.  What do you think will happen?

Squeaks and I are going to use our plant journal to write down what we think will happen to each plant.  Since most plants need sunlight, water, and good soil to be healthy, I think the plant with all those things will grow the most, and I think the plant in the dark will grow a little bit, but not too much, because it's missing the sunlight it needs to make food, and I don't think the plant without water will grow at all, because it'll dry up.  Also, I think the plant that's in sand will grow pretty well, since the plant can make its own food from sunlight.  Now that we have our guesses about what will happen, we can prepare for our experiment.

To grow our plants, we'll need four containers that you can cut a hole in.  We're going to use small plastic cups.  We'll also need soil, water, sand, seeds, a drain pan, a small cardboard square, and scissors.  You can use any seeds you like, but make sure to use the same kinds of seeds for all the containers.  For this experiment, I found some extra grass seeds that we're going to use.  

Like Squeaks and I are doing, you can use a plant journal to track how your plants change.  You can write down things like how tall the plants are and what color they are.  Also, something that's really fun to do is to take pictures of your plant, but if you don't have a camera to use, you can just draw what you see.  Finally, you'll need a lot of time.  Your plants could take a few weeks or even a month to grow.

Alright, now that we have all the supplies, it's time to start our experiment.  First, let's mark each cup with the things that the plant is missing, and then cross that out.  On one cup, we won't draw anything.  This cup will be for the seeds that get everything plants need.  For the second up, let's draw soil, then X over it to cross it out.  These seeds will get sunlight and water, but there will be sand in the cup instead of soil.  On the next cup, let's draw a sun, and again, cross that out.  These seeds will get water and soil but no sunlight.  Okay, here's the last cup.  For this one, we'll draw a water droplet and then cross that out.  These seeds will have good soil and get plenty of sunlight but no water.

Now that we've marked our four cups, we'll make a small hole in the bottom of each cup.  Ask for help from a grown up for this step, and now it's time to put each cup in the pan and fill them up.  We'll fill one cup with sand, and all the other cups with soil, but don't fill up the cups all the way.  We'll need to leave some room for when we water our seeds.  Next, let's plant a few seeds in each cup.  We'll cover the seeds with a little bit of our dirt or sand.  Then, we'll water each cup, except the one that isn't supposed to get watered.  Remember, it's marked with a water droplet that's crossed out, but be sure not to put too much water in.  You'll need just enough to make the soil wet.  

Ahh, these look great!  Let's place our tray in the window and then we'll put our little cardboard square over the cup that isn't supposed to get sunlight.  That's the one with the sun crossed out. 

And our experiment is ready.  Now all we have to do is wait.  Over the next few weeks, check in on your plants to take care of them and to see how they're growing.  If the soil or sand feels dry, that means you should give your plants a little water, but remember not to water the cup that isn't supposed to get water.  When you check in on your plants, you can also keep track of how tall they are and use your plant journal to write down any changes you see.

Our experiment is all set up now, so we'll see you in a few weeks to show you our results.  Thank you for joining us as we start our longest experiment yet, and we would like to give a big shout out to Google making science for helping us make this episode.  Thanks, Google making science.

Do you have any experiments that you think we should try or questions about plants?  We would love to hear from you, so grab a grown up and leave a comment down below or send us an email to kids@scishow.com.  Thanks and we'll see you next time here at the fort.