DIY: Planting early spring peas
Enjoy Passover peas planted on Tu B’Shevat!
Tu B’Shevat is the perfect holiday for children to plant seeds of all shapes and sizes. In Hebrew, the word seed is pronounced Ze-ra, and vegetable seeds planted during the Hebrew month of Shevat (this year in February) should be ready to eat and enjoy by Passover!
Today, we are planting pea seeds. When children plant a seed, and go through the steps of adding dirt in a cup, tucking the seed inside, spraying it with water, and taking care of it until it becomes a plant or a tree - they are experiencing the Jewish value, Ma’aseh B’reishit (Miracle of Creation).
A sweet pea seedling
Before planting pea seeds, your child can give it a head start in growing like we did in the photo above!! About a week before planting, lightly spray a paper towel with water, wrap the seeds inside, and place it on a window sill in a ziplock bag. Have your child keep an eye on it during the week. You can actually see it sprout and change a little each day in the plastic bag, even wrapped up in the paper towel.
During the week it’s growing on your window sill, gather some fresh dirt and paper cups. When you’re ready to plant, have your child gently unwrap the seedling, put a little dirt in the cup, place their seedling inside and fill around it with extra dirt. We added a little Popsicle flag made with washi tape to help the seedling grow tall and straight (and it looks cute too)!
Decorating the paper cups with markers (before planting) is fun too! If you use biodegradable paper cups, they can later be planted directly into the ground (or a container garden).
There is so much joy and happiness in planting peas with your little sweet peas! Let us know if you do this with your child, and let us know if your peas are ready to eat by Passover in the comments below!
There’s so many fun activities for families to do together to celebrate the month of Shevat and Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat. Click here for DIY Beanie Baby Necklaces, DIY Edible Almond Tree, DIY Recyclable Party Hats, Birthday of the Trees Nature Walk, Visit a Strawberry Farm and make a Tu B’Shevat Fruit Salad, and Plant a Tree Seedling!
Happy Shevat and Tu B’Shevat! ♥
~Jennifer
To make a beanie baby necklace, click here!
