Watch Me Grow Sweet Potato

WHAT TO SAY



Sweet potatoes or yams are one of the oldest foods around. It is thought that they have existed since prehistoric times but we do know that our Native Americans were growing them before Christopher Columbus landed on our shores in 1492, and our first President, George Washington, was a sweet potato farmer.

A sweet potato is not a potato at all. It is the root of the plant and is part of the Morning Glory family. This is why, when a sweet potato is left to sprout in water, it will become a leafy vine with beautiful purple flowers.

WHAT YOU NEED

• 1 Sweet Potato or Yam
  
• 1 Empty 64 oz. NESTLÉ JUICY JUICE plastic bottle
  
• 1 craft knife
  
• 3 tooth picks
  
• Water
  
• Sunny warm growing area

HOW TO DO IT

• (PARENTS ONLY) Use a craft knife to trim 3 inches off of the top of an empty NESTLÉ JUICY JUICE bottle. The opening should be approximately 3 inches in diameter.
  
  
• Insert three toothpicks evenly around the top third of the sweet potato. There should be enough of each toothpick extending from the sweet potato so that it rests securely on the edge of the bottle.
  
  
• After suspending the sweet potato over the bottle opening, fill with water. You should cover about two thirds of the sweet potato.
  
  
• Place it in a warm, sunny location.
  
  
• In about two weeks you will start to see sprouts coming out of the part of the sweet potato that is under the water. Some of them will grow above the water and form the sweet potato vine that will climb wherever you train it to go.

TIPS

• Change the water in your sweet potato container every 2 – 3 days.

FOLLOW UP FUN

• Once the sweet potato starts to sprout, have your child visit it at the same time every day to see how it is changing. Help them count and keep track of all of the new sprouts as they appear.
  
  
• Give your child a disposable camera to record the growth as the sweet potato begins to send shoots up above the waterline.
  
  
• Try growing a plant from an avocado seed using the same method.