Arizona families, you made it. Phoenix hit its first 100-degree day on March 18 this year, the earliest ever, and by early October the city had logged 129 triple-digit days. KJZZ reported that 2026's heat season will be the longest on record for Phoenix, and National Weather Service forecasters expected highs to drop into the 80s and even the upper 70s as fall finally arrived.
That means one thing for homeschool families across the Valley and Tucson: the patio table is back in business. Fall and winter are prime growing time in Arizona's low desert, and it's the perfect moment to restart hands-on science outdoors.
Here's a fast, fun way to kick it off: a Sprout Race. Two kinds of seeds, one fair test, and a winner your kids can see within days.
What your kids will learn
Grades K–5
- The parts of a seed: seed coat, embryo (baby plant) and stored food
- What a seed needs to germinate: water, warmth and air
- How to observe, draw and describe daily changes
- How to measure root growth with a ruler and compare two kinds of plants
Grades 6–12
- Germination physiology: water uptake (imbibition), enzyme activation and the first root (radicle) breaking out
- Writing a hypothesis and setting up a controlled experiment
- Calculating germination rate and graphing root growth over time
- Heirloom (open-pollinated) varieties and how traits are passed from parent plant to seed
This week's activity: the Sunflower vs. Tomato Sprout Race
You can run this with seeds from your pantry or garden shed. You'll need sunflower seeds (raw, unroasted), tomato seeds, paper towels, two zip-top bags, a ruler, a marker and a notebook.
- Make a prediction. Big seed or small seed: which will sprout first? Each scientist writes a guess and a reason.
- Prepare the beds. Dampen two paper towels so they're moist but not dripping. Fold each in half.
- Plant the racers. Place 10 sunflower seeds in one folded towel and 10 tomato seeds in the other. Slide each into its own zip bag and label it with the seed type and today's date.
- Keep it fair. Set both bags side by side in the same warm, bright spot out of direct sun, like a shaded corner of the patio during the day (bring them in at night) or a bright kitchen counter. Same towel, same water, same spot: the only thing that changes is the type of seed.
- Check every day. Count how many seeds have a visible root and measure the longest root in millimeters. Record it in a simple table.
- Graph and conclude. After about 10 days, graph the results. Which seed won? Older students can calculate a germination rate for each (sprouted seeds ÷ total seeds × 100) and explain why seed size might matter.
Make it easier (and more complete) with two ready-to-go kits. Our Sunflower Seed Germination Science Kit comes with 10 sunflower seeds, absorbent germination paper and a resealable germination pouch. Sunflower seeds typically sprout in 2–5 days, so kids see results fast.
Our Heirloom Tomato Seed Germination Science Kit includes 20 heirloom tomato seeds in assorted varieties plus germination paper. Tomato seeds typically sprout in 3–10 days, and once the roots reach about half an inch, the seedlings are ready to move into soil so the study keeps going.
Each kit includes grade-level curriculum (K–5 or 6–12, your choice at checkout) and student worksheets emailed after purchase, including a daily observation log and a root-length chart. Order one of each and the race practically sets itself up, with the lesson plans already done for you.
Join the growing community
Every kit comes with an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private group for families using our kits. Post your race results and root photos, see whose sunflower crossed the finish line first, and get help if a seed is slow to wake up. Young growers from Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff are learning alongside kids in the hills of West Virginia and the Ozarks of Arkansas, and every new result makes the group more fun.
Start the race this week
The worst of the heat is behind us. Let the sprouting begin.
