Cold air and snow are on their way back to West Virginia. WDTV's forecast for north-central West Virginia calls for snow showers above 3,000 feet late Thursday night into Saturday, light accumulations in the mountains, and mornings at or below freezing from Sunday through late next week (WDTV, November 10, 2026).
That first snow always gets people talking about what kind of winter is coming. In the hills, one of the oldest answers sits inside a soft, orange fruit: the native American persimmon. Split a persimmon seed and, the old saying goes, the shape inside tells the winter. A spoon means lots of snow to shovel, a fork means a mild winter, and a knife means cold, icy wind (Farmers' Almanac).
Is it true? The Almanac itself calls it folk weather, not a scientific forecast. That makes it a perfect homeschool science lesson: take a fun tradition, make a prediction, and then test it against what really happens.
What your kids will learn
That little white shape inside the seed is not a weather map. It is the baby plant, the embryo, folded up and waiting for spring. Looking at it opens up a whole unit on how plants start and how they make new plants.
Grades K–5
- The parts of a seed: seed coat, stored food and the tiny embryo plant inside
- Observing closely with a magnifier, then drawing and labeling what they see
- Sorting and counting: how many spoons, forks and knives did we find?
- Making a prediction and checking it later, the heart of the scientific method
- That a plant can grow from a seed or from a piece of a stem
Grades 6–12
- Seed anatomy: cotyledons, radicle and why the embryo's shape varies from tree to tree
- Sample size and bias: why seeds from one tree are not enough to judge a claim
- Testing folklore with data: recording a prediction, then logging real weather for weeks
- Sexual reproduction (seeds mix genes from two parents) versus asexual propagation (a cutting copies its parent)
- How rooting hormones help a stem form new roots
This week's activity: the persimmon seed forecast challenge
You can do this one for free with a few persimmons, a cutting board and a notebook.
- Find ripe American persimmons. They grow wild in many parts of West Virginia, and many people wait until after the first hard frost to gather them, when the fruit is soft. Gather from a tree you know, with the landowner's permission, or ask at a farmers market. The folk forecast only works with the native American persimmon, not the large Asian persimmons sold in grocery stores. This is a seed activity, not a snack, so don't eat any wild fruit.
- Clean the seeds. Squeeze out the flat brown seeds, rinse off the pulp and let kids count them. Aim for at least 10 seeds, from two or three different trees if you can.
- Soften them. Soak the seeds in warm water for about an hour so they are easier to split.
- Adult step: split each seed. A grown-up holds the seed on its edge on a cutting board and slices it lengthwise with a craft knife. Kids watch and keep their hands clear.
- Observe and sketch. Kids use a magnifier to look at the white embryo in each half and draw it. Is it a spoon, a fork or a knife? Tally the results in a chart.
- Write the prediction. Based on the tally, what does the folk forecast say about this winter? Write it down and date it.
- Test it. Mark snow days, icy days and mild days on a calendar every week through February. Older kids can also record daily high and low temperatures. In spring, compare the results with the prediction and decide: did the seeds get it right?
Here is the twist kids love: the seed they just opened is how a persimmon makes a brand-new, one-of-a-kind tree. Growers also have another way to make more persimmon trees, one that skips the seed entirely.
That is where our Persimmon Tree Cutting Rooting Science Kit comes in. Instead of a seed, kids start with a real persimmon tree cutting, about 4 inches long, dip it in rooting powder and watch for the first roots to appear. The box includes the cutting, rooting powder and step-by-step rooting instructions, and the grade-level curriculum and worksheets are emailed to you after purchase, so you can print them and start right away. It is an indoor project, so the science keeps going while the weather outside turns cold.
Want to run a real experiment? Choose the add-on with two pots, an extra cutting and two growing mediums, and kids can compare how each cutting does in a different soil, a true fair test with one variable changed.
Join the growing community
Every kit comes with an invitation to our private Facebook group, "Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands," where kids and parents get support with anything they need. Share your seed tally and your winter prediction, post photos of the first roots on your cutting, and see what young growers are finding in West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona and beyond. Come spring, we would love to hear whether your persimmon seeds called the winter right.
Bring the experiment home
Snow is coming to the high country, the persimmons are ripening, and this is a lesson your kids can start this week and finish in spring with real data of their own.
- Persimmon Tree Cutting Rooting Science Kit: $19 for the kit, or $29 with the add-on of two pots, an extra cutting and two growing mediums. Choose Grades K–5 or 6–12 at checkout.
