• naturalLiving
  • activitiesfor kids
  • Easyrecipes
  • yourhome
  • just formoms
  • Start Here
  • About
  • Start Here
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Natural Living
    • Essential Oils
    • Natural Homemade Ideas
    • Natural Solutions
  • Activities for Kids
    • Arts and Crafts
    • Playdough and Slime
    • Sensory Activities
  • Recipes
  • For Your Home
    • Backyard Chickens
    • Easy DIY Projects & Crafts
    • Organizing Tips
    • Tips and Hacks
  • For Moms
    • Caring for Yourself
    • Parenting
    • Product Reviews
    • Travel
  • About
  • Start Here
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • SHOP
↑

Living Well Mom

I help moms with simple, natural ways to look after their families. Find recipes, fun stuff for kids, and simple DIY ideas. Plus natural solutions made easy peasy!

  • naturalLiving
  • activitiesfor kids
  • Easyrecipes
  • yourhome
  • just formoms
  • Start Here
  • About
  • Home
  • Seasonal
  • Essential Oils
  • Natural Solutions
  • Autism

How to Sprout Seeds on a Sponge Garden

By Brenda P in Activities for Kids

gardening spring STEM activityThis post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about seed germination with kids! this idea now...

This time of year, the weather may be safe to plant seeds outside, but it may not be quite yet. My kids and I decided to experiment with sprouting seeds on a sponge garden.

These little gardens are the perfect way to spout seeds and get them started before it’s warm enough to garden outdoors. After sprouting our seeds, we moved them into little pots to continue to grow until temperatures outside heat up. 

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about seed germination with kids!

What you’ll need to make a sponge garden:

  • Sponges
  • Fast-growing seeds (like chia seeds, grass seeds, or broccoli seeds)
  • Plate
  • Scissors

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about germination with kids!

We ended up using broccoli seeds for our sponge garden, which did take a little bit longer to grow than some other kinds of seeds. Chia seeds, I think would be ideal, but we could not find them anywhere locally, and the purchase price online was surprisingly expensive. I think we were looking for seeds just a bit too early!

The first step is to build your sponge garden. Building the sponge house is fun all by itself! You can let your little builders get creative with this or follow our directions here.

We decided to transform our sponge garden into a log cabin. 

I cut the sponges into strips longways. We used about 2 sponges for the base, then one whole sponge for our cabin’s roof. 

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about germination with kids!

Soak the sponges in water, and then squeeze out about half the liquid. 

Leave a little more liquid in the sponges than you would if you were using them to clean because we found that if our sponges were too dry, the seeds stopped germinating. 

Stack the sponge strips into a log cabin shape and top with the whole sponge. 

Sprinkle the seeds on top. 

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about germination with kids!

We found that placing the seeds in the hole of the sponge helped keep them in place when the sponge needed watering. 

We keep the sponge watered by removing it from the top of the house and watering beneath the sponge. This prevented the seeds from rolling away before they took sprout. 

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about germination with kids!

Put your seed cabin in a sunny spot, but make sure to keep it watered!

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about germination with kids!

After about 3 days, you should start to see seeds. In about 10 days, your seeds will be fully sprout-sized and you can then move them to a container with soil. Or you can eat them with a salad! (It’s a great way to encourage kids to eat more greens!)

And that’s how you sprout seeds on a sponge garden!

Garden before it's warm outside with this adorable cabin-shaped sponge garden! It's the perfect way to learn about seed germination with kids!

Dear Mom, Join the Living Well Mom Insiders

You’ll get exclusive content, “Sunshine for Your Day,” and more stuff Erika doesn’t share anywhere else!
    By entering your info, you’ll become a LWM Insider! Everything is delivered straight to your email inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.

    Filed Under: Activities for Kids, Seasonal, Spring Tagged With: gardening, spring, STEM activityPublished on April 18, 2017

    You May Also Love

    Pile of gluten free peanut butter cookies with bowl of peanut butter in the background.
    Chewy Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
    32+ Fun Outdoor Activities for Kids (That Will Keep Them Busy!)
    Bubble paint close up
    Bubble Painting – How to Paint with Bubbles

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Erika Bragdon sitting on a bench drinking a drink out of her mug

    Welcome! I’m Erika and I’m the creator behind Living Well Mom.

    More About Erika

    The Latest

    • Easy Homemade Fruit and Veggie Wash (That Actually Works)
    • Chewy Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
    • 32+ Fun Outdoor Activities for Kids (That Will Keep Them Busy!)
    • Bubble Painting – How to Paint with Bubbles
    • Easy Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe (That Your Kids Will Actually Eat!)

    Trending Now

    • playdough in a container Make the Easiest Homemade Playdough Recipe That Lasts for Months {With Video!}

    • Taco Pizza is a great as an easy family dinner (you can even make it the night before) or a tasty appetizer. Kids love this recipe and the cream cheese/sour cream “sauce” and spicy taco flavor are a hit with adults too. Taco Pizza – The BEST Easy Dinner Recipe

    • outside holding tick spray bottle with dog Simple All-Natural Tick Repellent for Dogs – with Video!

    • homemade macaroni and cheese on plate Easy Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe (That Your Kids Will Actually Eat!)

    • big strong homemade bubble solution How to Make Bubble Solution (Easy + Strong Bubbles)

    • Hand pressed into a ball of fluffy slime Fluffy Dish Soap “Slime” (Borax Free)

    • Home
    • Seasonal
    • Essential Oils
    • Natural Solutions
    • Autism

    Living well is a journey not a destination

    copyright ©2025, Living Well Mom. / Site by Pixel Me Designs
    Privacy PolicyTerms & ConditionsDisclaimer
    197 shares