The Tiny Seed: A Nature Storybook

A Seed on the Wind

High on a hill stood a tall sunflower. When autumn came, the wind blew, and hundreds of seeds floated up into the air. Most of the seeds were big and brave. One seed was the smallest of them all.

"I am only tiny," said the little seed. "I will never fly as far as the others."

But the wind did not mind. It lifted the tiny seed gently and carried it over fields and rivers and rooftops, farther than any of the bigger seeds went.

A Cold Sleep in the Soil

When the wind grew tired, it set the tiny seed down in a soft patch of brown soil at the edge of a garden. Rain fell and tucked the seed in like a blanket.

Winter came. Snow covered the ground. The tiny seed slept deep underground where it was dark and quiet. It was not afraid. It was waiting.

Seeds are very patient. They can wait a long, long time for the right moment to grow.

Spring Wakes the Seed

One morning the soil grew warm. The snow melted into water, and the water trickled down to the sleeping seed.

The seed drank. It drank and drank, and something wonderful happened. The seed began to swell, and a tiny white root pushed down into the soil to hold on tight and find more water.

Then a small green shoot pushed up, up, up toward the light. The tiny seed had begun to grow!

Reaching for the Sun

The little shoot poked its head above the soil and saw the sun for the first time. Sunlight is food for plants. Using the sun, the green leaves made the energy the plant needed to grow taller.

Day by day the plant grew. It grew past the grass. It grew past the daisies. It grew taller than the garden fence.

Some plants nearby did not make it. One was nibbled by a hungry rabbit. One did not get enough water. But our little plant had soil, water, and sunlight, and it kept on growing.

The Tiny Seed Blooms

At the very top of the tall green stalk, a bud appeared. It was round and tight and green. Then, one warm morning, it opened wide.

It was a sunflower — golden and bright, taller than all the other flowers in the garden. People stopped to look up at it. Bees buzzed happily around its big, sunny face.

The tiniest seed of all had grown into the biggest, brightest flower.

And It Begins Again

When autumn returned, the sunflower's face was full of new seeds — hundreds of them. The wind came back and blew, and the seeds floated up into the air to find new places to grow.

And so the story starts all over again. That is the life cycle of a plant: a seed grows into a flower, and the flower makes new seeds.

What We Learned

Every great big plant began as a tiny seed. With a little soil, water, sunlight, and patience, even the smallest seed can grow into something amazing — just like you.

Want to keep exploring nature? Dive under the waves with Explorers of the Deep Sea, or learn your first words and pictures in A Little Book of Colors and Shapes.