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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

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Grow cress creatures

Create your own cress creatures and watch them grow.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Permanent markers
  • Yoghurt pots
  • Kitchen roll
  • Cotton wool
  • Cress seeds
  • Watering can

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning this activity

  • In the weeks before this activity, ask people to save yoghurt pots, or something similar, wash them and bring them in.
  • You may want to run this experiment as one of a few bases. If you’re running two or three experiments at the same time, put the equipment each needed on a table and make sure there’s an adult at each table.

Make the cress creatures

  1. Gather everyone together and explain that you’re going to grow cress.
  2. Take a yoghurt pot and use the felt tips or permanent markers to create a face on the front of the pot, as the cress will become the hair growing out the top of the pot. People should feel free to get creative with facial expressions, or even to draw a monster or a mythical creature.
  3. Next, take some kitchen roll and make it damp with water, then fold it, and put it into the bottom of the pot.
  4. After adding the kitchen roll, make some cotton wool damp with water and put lots of cotton wool inside their pot. It should be about three quarters full of cotton wool.
  5. Next, sprinkle some cress seeds on top of their cotton wool and gently press them down.
  6. At the end of the session, people can take the pots home.
  7. Everyone should put their cress pots on a sunny windowsill, add a little water every day, and watch the cress grow into funny green hair. The cress should start to sprout after a day or two, and it’ll be ready to eat after about a week.

Reflection

This activity helped everyone develop skills like thinking for themselves and problem solving while following instructions.

How did everyone decide how damp their kitchen roll and cotton wool should be? What may have happened if people used dry cotton wool or kitchen roll, or if their pot was full of water? How many cress seeds did everyone add in? Could people still see the cotton wool, or was it covered by seeds?

This activity also needed everyone to care about what their cress needed. Seeds need people to care about them and make sure they get enough sunlight and water. Did everyone have to think about what their cress needed while it was growing?

People were responsible for their cress – their actions decided whether it grew or not. Just like people, plants need things to grow and be healthy, and we can help make sure they get what they need.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Science

Supervise young people, and only do science activities that are advised and age appropriate for your section. Test activities first, to make sure you’re confident you can lead them safely. Use protective clothing where necessary.

Food

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems, fasting or dietary requirements and adjust the recipe as needed. Make sure you’ve suitable areas for storing and preparing food and avoid cross contamination of different foods. Take a look at our guidance on food safety and hygiene.

Rubbish and recycling

All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.

Water games and activities

Be careful when doing activities with, in, or near water. Check surfaces and reduce the risk of slipping where possible. Make sure you have appropriate supervision for this activity.

Gardening and nature

Everyone must wash their hands after the activity has finished. Wear gloves if needed. Explain how to safely use equipment and set clear boundaries so everyone knows what’s allowed.

You could turn this into a science experiment and make more than one cress creature, then keep each one in different conditions.

For example, you could put one in a dark place with no light and one on a very sunny windowsill, or you could give one no water, one a bit of water, and one lots and lots of water.

Everyone should guess what will happen to the different cress creatures, then after about a week, check and see what happened. Was it what they predicted?

  • Some people may not like the texture of cotton wool. They could wear gloves or touch it using a spoon. Someone else could help them with this part of the task or they could use another material, such as toilet roll.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Experiment Activity Badge
Squirrels Let It Grow Activity Badge
Squirrels Exciting Experiments Activity Badge

You could make some extra cress creatures and use the cress as part of a snack. Why not sprinkle it on top of crackers or rice cakes spread with cream cheese, or add it to hardboiled eggs mashed with a little butter and put in a sandwich? This could count towards your Cook Activity Badge.

You could also use the cress creatures to learn about what plants need or grow some more seeds, such as beans, tomatoes or salad leaves, to work towards your Gardener Activity Badge.