One inquiry-based activity that I would like to use and have used in my classroom is growing beans while reading Jack and the Beanstalk. This is similar to the growing tomatoes experiment from the curious minds teacher guidelines however we often hypothesise and experiment with what might happen to the beans under a variety of different conditions such as no water, no light or no oxygen and of course the children’s own beans have access all three. The children love watching the progress and keeping an eye on their experiments.
In previous years this experiment has also led to a further inquiry led experiment as the bean without light grew to huge heights but was white due to a lack of chlorophyl. The children (and staff) all guessed or hypothesised if the plant would turn green if allowed in the sunlight and how long it would take. There was great excitement monitoring the plant each day when it was placed in the sunlight with surprising results.