This easy experiment is great for teaching kids about germination and the life cycle of a plant.

Making guacamole is a fun activity, and if your family likes it as much as mine does, they will love you for it. But you can also set the avocado seeds aside and grow a tree with remarkable success. We took several seeds and placed them in various locations and environments to discover which was best for germination.

We placed the first seed in a container filled with damp soil and put it in our garden window. We placed the second seed on a saucer and left it on our kitchen counter. We wrapped the third seed in a damp paper towel and placed it in a plastic bag which we shoved to the back of our cupboard. Can you guess which seed germinated first?

Yep, the one in the plastic bag!

Next, we used toothpicks to suspended the sprouted seed in a jar of water. The seed continued to grow and began to produce roots. Every few days my daughter and I examined the growing seed to note its progress. The glass jar provided us with a great view of the roots, and we observed them, over time, wrapping around the bottom of the jar. We literally saw the whole germination progress before our eyes.

After a few weeks I started to add a teaspoon of soil to the glass each day. My intention was to try to simulate how an avocado seed might travel in the wild -- perhaps falling from the tree or being discarded after the fruit was eaten.

My daughter loved watching the progress of this experiment. It is still going months later, and the seed is still providing a source of nutrients for the growing tree. I have been told that trees kept like this indoors will never yield fruit for themselves. But for me that's all part of the science: we can grow several trees and see if indeed that is the case. Perhaps we can make them fruit? Time, and a little scientific discovery may lead us to the answer.

Questions to ask your kids as you do this experiment:

• what do you think we can do to make the seed sprout quickly?
• should the seed be in a dark or a light place?
• would it be better for the seed to be covered in water or lying on a wet surface?
• when the seed sprouts, how does the root know to head downward?
• why does the seed come in two pieces?