Facts About Seeds | Educational Videos For Kids

Oh, hey Junior Rangers. Spring has sprung and so have these beautiful flowers. But have you ever asked yourself, what's the point of all these flowers anyways? Other than providing something beautiful to look at or giving a thoughtful gift to someone you love, what are these flowers up to? At the end of the day, all flowers produce seeds and plants need seeds to spread and live from one generation to the next. And that's what I want to talk about today. The super special significance of seeds. ♪ Makes a tree grow tall or wide ♪ ♪ Turtle wears a shell on its back ♪ ♪ To get your hiking boots and a walking stick ♪ ♪ Come along with Ranger Zach ♪ It's the Ranger Zach Show. A seed is basically just a baby plant. Aw, how cute. It needs the right water, temperature, and light to sprout. Typically, these conditions are found in good quality soil. When the right seed finds the right home, it will grow a root and a stem. This process is called germination. A seed is made up of three parts. The seed coat, which is the outer layer that protects the seed from drying out. The seed embryo, a fancy name for the future plant the seed will become. And the endosperm, which contains all the nutrients the seed needs to grow big and strong. Let's look at all three parts using this avocado seed. This papery outer shell is the seed coat, which is protecting the seed embryo on the inside. Here is the seed embryo, the future plant the seed will become. And it's getting all the nutrients it needs from this surrounding endosperm. The best part about examining avocado seeds is making the guacamole after. Avocado seed, you guac my world. All flowering plants and trees produce seeds, but they may package those seeds in many different ways. Here, close your eyes. Imagine a seed. What does it look like? And how big is it? Okay, open your eyes. When most people think of a seed, they think of what they put in their bird feeders at home. But to open your eyes, the different types of seeds out there, I have a game for us to play. Come on, follow me. Welcome back to the game show, Seed or No Seed. The rules are simple. I hold up an everyday object and you tell me if there's a seed or no seed. Let's start easy with one everyone should remember. This avocado, what do you think? Seed or no seed? That's right, seed. Give yourself 14 points. Let's move on to these almonds. What do you think? Seed or no seed? If you said seed, you're right. Almonds are seeds. Give yourselves 68 points. Getting a little trickier, how about these dried beans? What do you think? Seed or no seed? Raise your hand if you think no seed. Sorry folks, beans are seeds. So if you guessed seed, give yourself four points. How about this onion? Could this skin be a seed coat? What do you think? No seed. Onions are roots. Let's move on to this rice. What do you think? Is rice seed or no seed? If you guessed seed, you would be right. Rice is also a seed and you can give yourself 79 points. I have here a sweet potato. What do you think? Is a sweet potato seed or no seed? Sweet potatoes are not a seed. They're also a root. To end round one, let's go ahead and look at this oatmeal. What do you think? Is oatmeal seed or no seed? If you're thinking seed, you're right. Give yourself 51 points. Oatmeal is also a seed. That does it for round one. Stick around for round two. Okay everybody, welcome to round two. You know the rules, so let's get started. This ear of corn. What do you think? Seed or no seed? If you think no seed, you would be wrong. Corn is a seed. It's actually a giant grass. So if you guessed seed, give yourself 12 points. How about a carrot? Look, something's growing out of it. What do you think? Seed or no seed? No seed. Carrots are also a root. Okay, I have here some beets. What do you think? Beets, seed or no seed? If you guessed no seed, you're right. Give yourself 83 points. I love beets. Gotta cook them first, though. Don't take them out. Okay everybody, we're down to our last two. This one's really tricky, so make sure you think about it before you give your answer. Peanut butter. Seed or no seed? Well, peanut butter is made from peanuts, which are seeds. So if you guessed seed, you're right. And give yourself 28 points. Okay, Junior Rangers, last one. This pickle. What do you think? Seed or no seed? Well, pickles are made from cucumbers, which have seeds on the inside. But you can't plant a pickle, so don't plan on growing any pickle trees anytime soon. And that does it for seed or no seed. Thanks for playing. We'll see you next time. Are you ready for your Rangers Act fun fact? Yeah! Well, here it is. Strawberries have seeds, but you ain't gonna find them on the inside. Strawberries are the only fruit that wears its seeds on the outside. What do you think of that? I did it! So far, we learned that seeds have three parts. The seed coat, the seed embryo, and the endosperm. We also talked about how seeds can take many different shapes and sizes. Next, let's learn how seeds can move from one place to the next. Seeds have to be able to travel, to find good soil, and start the germination process. But it's not like a seed can just sprout legs and walk away. They have to be carried. And this can be done in several different ways. Like by wind. Have you ever blown away a dandelion and made a wish? Well, did you know that you were actually making the plant's wish come true, too? Seeds, like the ones on the dandelion, have hair-like parachutes on them that can catch the wind and be blown for miles around. Some trees, like the maple tree, make helicopter seeds instead of parachutes. Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo. These helicopter seeds are called samaras. Some plants rely on animals to help spread their seed. By growing fruit, a plant might be offering a tasty treat to a hungry animal or a hungry park ranger. Once that fruit is eaten, the animal might poop it out later. Like remember that scat from our tracking episode? Boo-doo-boop-boop-ba-da! Well, that scat is great fertilizer and an excellent place for the seed to germinate in. Some plants may even be using you to help spread its seeds. Have you ever been hiking along and felt a little sticker in your sock? Well, those are actually seeds, like the ones on these foxtails. Some seeds have tiny little burrs on them, sort of like a miniature fish hook. When an unsuspecting hiker or animal walks by, the seeds hitch a ride and can travel as far as you're willing to take them. Choo, choo! All aboard! Next stop, ranger station! Howdy, junior rangers. Welcome back to the ranger station. Now I'm gonna show you two really surprising ways that you can use seeds at home. First, I bet you never thought that you could make slime using seeds, but you can, and I'm gonna show you how. For this experiment, you'll need about two tablespoons of chia seeds, some water colored with food coloring, about a tablespoon and a half of cornstarch, and a mixing bowl. Let's get started. To begin, I'm gonna take my two tablespoons of chia seeds and put them into my mixing bowl. Into the bowl they go. Next, you have to decide what color slime you wanna make. I'm gonna use my favorite color, green. Add just enough water to cover all the chia seeds. Now give your seeds a little stir. Let's add our cornstarch. Start with about a tablespoon. Back to stirring. Now you don't want your slime too sticky, so if it's too wet, just add a little extra cornstarch. Okay, junior rangers, I think our slime is ready. Let's have a look. Seed slime! Slime, slime, slime. Okay, junior rangers, now wasn't that cool? Let's make one more color. How about blue? I bet you never thought you could make slime out of chia seeds. Ch-ch-ch-chia! And now, the second surprising way that you can use seeds at home. Our friends over at Ambarella Organics make lollipops. But not just any old lollipop. Their lollipops are made using the petals and seeds of all sorts of different types of plants. And when you're done eating your candy, you can plant the stick, and it will grow the plant based on the flavor of your lollipop. Today, I'm gonna be sampling and planting strawberry basil. This is so good! Now that I'm done with my lollipop, I can plant it in this pot. Just put it in horizontally, cover it with some topsoil, and we'll check back on it in a couple weeks. I can't wait to see what these sprouts look like in a couple weeks. Who knew you could have so much fun with seeds at home? I'm gonna put this stuff away, and then we'll do the ranger roundup. This week's question comes from John, who's been a fan of the show since our very first episode. I'm Ranger Zach, I really like the show, and I was wondering, do bees have bones? Really interesting question, John. What's that, Pearl? It's John's birthday today! Well, happy birthday, John. I hope you get outside today for a great adventure. Here's the answer to your question. Bees have skeletons, but no bones. That's because they wear their skeletons on the outside. This is called an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is sort of like a suit of armor. It protects the bees and keeps everything that should be on the inside of the body in place. I hope that answers your question, and I wanna wish you another happy birthday. Now let's do the junior ranger challenge. This week's junior ranger challenge is to go out on a seed scavenger hunt. See how many seeds you can find at home, outside, or even in the supermarket. Seeds are everywhere, silly, so it's not that hard. For extra points, plant your seeds and see how long they take to sprout. Tag us in a picture of your special adventure at the Rangers Act Show on Instagram for a chance to be featured as one of our junior rangers of the week. Remember, new episodes of the Rangers Act Show come out every Monday, so please make sure to like and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any of our great adventures. And remember, junior rangers, there's a world of adventure right outside your door, so get out there and go explore. This is Ranger Zach and Pearl, over and out. What? Well, it's almost bedtime, so just make sure you brush your squirrel teeth after you eat this.