• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

sloely

enjoying life slowed down

  • clutter free
  • simply frugal
  • natural remedies
  • grow your own
  • non toxic cleaning
  • slow parenting

How To Grow Your Own Mushrooms

February 23, 2018 by Alice 9 Comments

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEMPost includes affliate links, read here how these work.

Growing mushrooms is one of the easiest gardening projects to share with kids – or to try as a beginner – and is perfect in winter when it’s still too chilly to grow stuff outside.

You don’t have to be remotely green fingered to get mushrooms to grow and once started, mushrooms are super speedy.

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

Every day the mushrooms will be much bigger – they truly will grow before your kids’ eyes! – and in a fortnight they can be harvesting them.

AND popping them in the pan for a yummy breakfast, lunch or supper.

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

Seeing something they can eat, grow so fast, is wonderfully rewarding for kids and a great way to excite them about growing more food.

You can grow mushrooms from packets of dry spore from your local garden centre.

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

But first time round I recommend using a mushroom growing kit.

Mushroom Growing Kits

We’ve had several kits and they are great fun.

Once you’ve learned the basics with a kit, you can then have a go with the dry spore.

Although the kits do make fab presents for kids of all ages – including some very big ones!

Our favourites are kits from Merryhill Mushrooms – a little company in Sussex – but there’s a range of suppliers in the USA and UK.

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

You can buy them ready growing.

But I think it’s more fun to buy the spawned compost, so when the kit first arrives there’s nothing to see and THEN they grow.

And grow. And grow. And grow.

As once you’ve gobbled up that first crop.

You will get another and another. And if you look after them, more.

Mushroom Growing Tips

The key tips for growing mushrooms – with kit or dry spore – and enjoying multiple crops are:

  1. Keep soil damp but not soggy – a spray bottle is handy for this. Unlike most plants, it’s the top of the soil you want damp, not the whole pot, so don’t over water.
  2. Pick the whole harvest including any tiny ones to ensure another crop.
  3. Don’t forget to keep the soil damp after harvesting, for your next crop.

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

Typically, you’ll see the first crop in a few days and it will be ready to harvest in a week.

If you look after your mushrooms, you should get 3 or 4 crops over a month to 6 weeks.

And you’ll then be ready to start growing something new, alongside your mushrooms.

In a moment, I’ll share super cool things to grow next – now you’ve got the growing bug!

But first, one more thing you MUST do whilst growing mushrooms, and that is ask questions.

The Big Mushroom Questions

You see the super cool thing about growing mushrooms, is that it lets kids – and us – start to get our head around fungi.

Because fungi are totally different from other plants – in fact they are NOT even plants.

Fungi are actually their own kingdom and closer to animals than plants. Wow!

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

So as you are growing your mushrooms encourage your little naturalist to mull over these questions …

  1. Do mushrooms have a seed?
  2. Do mushrooms have roots?
  3. Do mushrooms need light?
  4. Do mushrooms need water?
  5. Where do mushrooms get energy from?
  6. Where does the next crop come from?

Growing mushrooms with kids - a lovely simple gardening activity that lets kids explore the science of fungi #gardening #gardenwithkids #mushrooms #plants #fungi #science #STEM

You don’t have to have all the answers.

But when you have finished growing your mushrooms do have a good poke around in the soil. You may find some useful clues 😉 to help kids make sense of what’s going on in the fungi kingdom, before you start growing something else.

And as promised these are the cool plants I recommend you grow next …

5 Cool Plants To Grow Next

These 5 projects are simple and quick and yummy so brilliant for kids and beginners. And small enough for a balcony or classroom.

They are also like mushrooms, super cool and help us learn awesome stuff about plants.

  • Mint: an unbelievably easy way to grow mint for cool glasses of lemonade and more
  • Radishes: are the speediest veg on the block and need very little room
  • Peas: freshly picked from a pod are sweet enough to tempt even the pickiest eater
  • Lettuces: will grow once and then miraculously grow again and again
  • Courgettes: or zucchini to you Americans are surprisingly scrumptious in chocolate cake AND have a super clever pollination trick up their flowers 😉

Do have a go at growing these. They are all great fun and a great way to grow a little gardener and budding naturalist.

I would love to hear how you get on. Do come back and tell me your stories …

And for more simple tips follow my Gardening For Kids and Gardening boards on Pinterest.

http://sloely.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GrowingMushroomsWithKids.mp4

Mushroom Growing At Home
How To Grow Mushrooms With Kids
Mushroom Growing At Home

Filed Under: grow your own, kids gardening, Plant Life Cycle Activities For Kids Tagged With: grow your own

Previous Post: « Oxleas Wood London
Next Post: Exploring Catkins With Kids »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jan Mckenzie says

    July 25, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Where can i buy mushrooms spawn please Jan

    Reply
  2. Vivienne Bennett says

    September 6, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    I would love to start growing mushrooms

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Growing mint in water says:
    March 5, 2019 at 2:54 pm

    […] Growing Mushrooms With Kids says: February 23, 2018 at 1:04 pm […]

    Reply
  2. Growing Courgettes With Kids says:
    March 7, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    […] Mushrooms: part of the mind boggling fungi kingdom, you can have mushrooms on your plate in less than 2 weeks […]

    Reply
  3. Recycled Gifts says:
    September 6, 2019 at 2:40 pm

    […] kit : growing mushrooms is super fun for kids and this kit lets them grow their crop in the leftover coffee from a hundred […]

    Reply
  4. Kids Gardening Growing Vegetables says:
    April 20, 2020 at 3:33 pm

    […] had an ongoing crop of mushrooms in our kitchen this […]

    Reply
  5. Quick Growing Vegetables says:
    April 20, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    […] get started read these How To Grow Mushrooms For Beginners […]

    Reply
  6. Growing Vegetables From Scraps says:
    April 30, 2020 at 4:08 pm

    […] Growing Mushrooms With Kids […]

    Reply
  7. Growing Pussy Willow Catkins says:
    January 9, 2021 at 8:49 am

    […] Growing Mushrooms With Kids […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

SIMPLE NATURAL FRUGAL

In a crazy busy, increasingly toxic world, these are the simple, natural, frugal tips that help my family enjoy a slower but richer life clutter free. These tips have saved us money and improved our health but best of all they’ve given us more time together as a family having fun ...

PRIVACY - DISCLOSURE - ADVERTISE - COPYRIGHT

Footer

Clutter free …

Declutter and organize when you’re feeling overwhelmed with this simple, inspirational alternative to the Marie Kondo Konmari method. The Just 10 things declutter challenge will free your home of clutter - from your bedroom, wardobe and clothes to your kitchen - and help you reclaim your life in just a few minutes every day in and includes free declutter checklists, tips, motivation and ideas #declutter #clutter #konmari
Declutter list - 250 things cluttering your home you will be happier without

Grow your own …

Natural remedies …

PRIVACY - DISCLOSURE - ADVERTISE - COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.