No Small Potatoes
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Most of us have an avocado-pit experiment in our past. You can pull off the same trick with a sweet potato, and the results are much more HGTV than the spindly avocado.
Step 1
Hold a firm sweet potato with the pointy end down. Have your child push four toothpicks crosswise into the vegetable about two-thirds of the way up (see left).
Step 2
Put the pointy end of the sweet potato in a glass so the toothpicks rest on the rim. Fill the glass almost to the top with lukewarm water.
Step 3
Place in a sunny spot and change the water every 2 to 3 days. In a few days, roots will begin to sprout from the bottom; in about 2 weeks, leaves and stems will start sprouting from the top.
Step 4
Keep the plant in the glass until it gets too big — usually in a couple of months — then plant it 3 to 4 inches deep in a pot filled with potting soil. Keep moist. The sweet potato is a member of the morning glory family; just like that flower, you can train the vines to grow wherever you want.
