Can you sprout lima beans in a bag?

Because of their large size, lima beans are great for watching as they sprout. Give each student a plastic baggie, preferably with a ziploc-type top. Each student places a couple of dry lima beans in her bag. She then adds a little water and closes the bag. Write each child's name on his bag with a permanent marker, and tape the bags to a window that gets a lot of sun. As the days progress, you will observe sprouts emerging from the lima beans. Tell your students that this is what happens when the seeds are planted in the earth. The sprout would eventually poke through the ground, and grow, and become a plant that would produce more lima beans. An optional step two is to take new, dry lima beans and plant them in soil in cups. Keep those in the window and let your students water them daily. It is exciting to watch the sprouts emerge from the soil, just as they watched sprouts emerge from the seed itself.