Earth Day is in a couple weeks–do you usually do anything? Can you believe that 2020 was the 50th anniversary of the holiday? I wanted to do some type of fun DIY but wasn’t sure exactly what. Then I started thinking about seed bombs. I made a slight tweak to them and the idea for these DIY seed bomb pops was born! This is a fun and simple project you can do with your kids and then gift to friends.
what is a seed bomb?
A seed bomb is a mixture of seeds and either pulp or clay. You make a wet mixture of either the pulp or clay and then add the seeds in. Then you can form balls with your hands or place in silicone molds. Once the seed bombs are dry you can then plant wherever you would like to add some blooms!
materials for DIY seed bomb pops
- paper
- water
- seeds
- popsicle sticks
- blender or food processor
- silicone molds (optional)
I decided to use paper to form a pulp since I already had some. The process for making these is really simple and takes less than an hour once your pulp is made. Since I had three different types of seeds I cut squares approximately 1″ in size of three different colored construction paper. You can also use other paper if you prefer but I found that the construction paper makes a really nice pulp.
Soak your squares of paper in water for a few hours or overnight. Once your paper has soaked in the water use a blender or food processor to create a pulp. I also found that it blends better if you add more water to the mixture. Once the paper is pulp that can be formed squeeze most of the excess water out and add your seeds. Then you can roll into balls or make seed bomb pops with labeled popsicle sticks like I did!
do seed bombs even work?
I really wanted to try to make these because I was slightly skeptical. I’d heard mixed reviews about the effectiveness of seed bombs. Some people claim that they’re a fail-proof way to plant flowers, other people say that they don’t work.
We made our DIY seed bomb pops and then left them to dry out. After 24 hours they were still moist so I left them in their molds in a sunny window while we went out of town for a couple days. We did observe that the leftover pulp that we had rolled into balls dried much faster than the pops we placed in molds.
| Check out 10 ways to spend Earth Day with your kids here. |
When we came back from our trip we were surprised to see that the molds were still slightly damp. However, even more surprising and exciting was that some of the seeds had started sprouting before we even placed them in the ground! We planted them right away and were impressed that after only a couple days we could see sprouts coming to the surface! It was so neat to see that our diy project and experiment all in one worked so well!
Have you ever tried making a diy seed bomb? Are you planting anything this year?
19 Responses to diy seed bomb pops for earth day
Yes, Justine!
I love how you Less the Mees on this adventure!
Can you make them in the winter and wait till spring to plant, do you have to bury them or just throw in the area you want them to grow?9
I don’t know why you couldn’t make them ahead of time and let them sit for awhile. And personally we planted them in dirt, but I know lots of people who throw ones with native plant seeds while they’re out hiking so they land anywhere. I really can’t say how successfully they grow like that though because I don’t have personal experience.
What a fun DIY to get the family outdoors! Love it!
I would say a lot of seeds may not sprout, if they’re not frozen for a couple of weeks, especially native seeds.
Hey Gwynn, thanks so much for reading this post! This project was a lot of fun for us and we surprisingly have had way more luck sprouting seeds with our seed bombs than I had originally thought! You’re definitely right–some seeds might not sprout, but in my gardening experience that’s often the case anyway. This project is really more for fun or gift giving, not necessarily the best way to plant a springtime garden. Happy planting!
We have never tried them but for Earth 🌎 day we are definitely going to try them !!!! We plant 🌱 flowers 💐 all kinds some for bees and butterflies 🦋 🐝 and then we plant corn 🌽 for the wildlife …Hope everyone has a great growing season 🐝🦋💐🌽💛
What a great idea to do corn!! Thanks for reading!
This looks so fun! What a great craft to do with kids!
They are so fun and easy to make! Cute little gifts to give too!
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I do it?
The longest we’ve waited it is a couple months… but I don’t know why you couldn’t make them further ahead than that.
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