CSA Pickup: Week of August 19, 2026 — Celery STEM Exploration
Some vegetables are easy to overlook because we see them so often. Celery was one of those vegetables in our CSA box this week. It's familiar, simple, and usually something we chop up without thinking much about it, but when we slowed down and looked closely, celery gave us a surprisingly good opportunity to explore plant structure, water movement, and how plants transport water from one place to another.
That's one of the things I love about seasonal learning. The vegetables don't have to be unusual to become interesting. Sometimes we just need to look at an everyday food a little differently.
Jump Links to Main Sections
STEM Exploration: Exploring How Celery Moves Water
Kitchen Science: Ants on a Log
What We Received This Week
Celery
Carrots
Tomatoes
Corn
Lettuce
Melon
Summer squash
Cucumbers
Bell peppers
Yellow onions
Broccoli
Quick Produce Notes
Celery: Its long stalks make it easy to see the plant's internal transportation structures and explore how water moves through plant tissue.
Carrots: A great vegetable for looking at root structure, just like we explored in an earlier CSA post.
Corn: The kernels provide an easy opportunity to talk about seeds, plant growth, and patterns.
Tomatoes: Their changing colors make them a simple way to observe ripening and pigment changes.
STEM Exploration: Exploring How Celery Moves Water
Celery is an easy way to introduce kids to one of the important jobs a plant has: moving water.
A celery stalk may look like one solid piece but look closely and you'll notice long lines running from the bottom toward the leaves. Those lines are part of the plant's vascular tissue, which helps transport water and other materials throughout the plant. You can explore this simply by putting celery in colored water and watching what happens. You don't need a complicated experiment or special equipment. All you need is celery, water, food coloring, and a little time to observe.
What You Need
1–2 celery stalks
A clear glass or jar
Water
Food Coloring
A knife (A child-safe knife may be appropriate depending on your child's age and skill, or have an adult do the cutting.)
Steps
Fill a clear glass or jar with water.
Add several drops of food coloring.
Place a celery stalk into the colored water.
Leave the celery somewhere you can check on it throughout the day.
Look at the celery after a few hours.
Check it again later or the next day.
Look closely at the stalk and leaves.
Optional: Cut a small piece of celery crosswise and look at the inside.
A Note About Eating the Celery
This is an observation experiment, so don't plan to eat the celery afterward. Although the food coloring itself isn't being used in a way that makes the celery inherently poisonous, the celery has been sitting in experimental water rather than being prepared as food. It's best to use fresh celery for eating and keep your experiment celery for observation. This is also a great opportunity to talk about how scientists sometimes have separate materials for experimenting and for consuming.
What to Notice
Look closely before explaining anything. What does your child notice?
You might see:
Colored lines appearing inside the celery stalk
Color moving upward from the bottom
Changes in the leaves or upper portion of the stalk
Different amounts of color in different parts of the celery
Tiny structures inside the stalk when you cut it crosswise
You may not see dramatic changes immediately, and that's okay. The goal isn't to create a spectacular experiment. The goal is to observe, wonder, and ask questions.
STEM Concepts
Plants need water throughout their bodies, but they don't have a pump like an animal's heart. Instead, plants have specialized tissues that help move water and other materials. One of these tissues is called xylem.
Xylem carries water and dissolved minerals upward through the plant.
When you place celery in colored water, some of that water moves upward through the celery's xylem. The food coloring makes the movement easier to see. The celery isn't "drinking" the water the way we drink from a cup. Water moves through the plant's vascular system, helped by processes including transpiration and the properties of water moving through narrow tubes.
You don't need to explain all of that to a young child. You can simply ask: "How do you think the water got from the bottom of the celery to the top?" Let your child's ideas lead the conversation.
Want to Look Even Closer?
After you've watched the celery sit in the colored water, cut a small piece crosswise. Look at the cut surface. Can you see tiny dots or pathways inside the stalk? Those structures are part of the celery's vascular system.
You can compare the celery before and after the experiment and ask:
Did the inside look different?
Where do you see the color?
Does the color appear evenly throughout the stalk?
Why do you think some areas show more color than others?
A simple stalk of celery can suddenly look like a tiny transportation system.
Keep the Conversation Going
You don't need to ask all of these. Pick one or two that naturally fit your child's curiosity.
What do you notice?
Where did the color go?
How do you think the water moved upward?
Did the color reach the leaves?
Why do you think plants need to move water?
What do you think would happen if we left the celery in the water longer?
Would a different color of food coloring work the same way?
What do you think would happen if we used a different plant?
Sometimes the best STEM questions aren't the ones with an immediate answer. They're the ones that make kids want to check back later.
Kitchen Science: Our CSA Snack
Ants on a Log
Sometimes kitchen science doesn't need a complicated recipe. Sometimes it's a celery stalk, a little spread, and a handful of raisins. Ants on a Log is a simple, kid-friendly snack that gives children a chance to practice spreading, counting, comparing, and noticing texture, all while using one of the vegetables from our CSA box.
Ingredients
Celery
Peanut Butter (Almond or Sunflower better can be used instead)
Raisins
Directions
Wash the celery.
Cut the celery into smaller pieces.
Spread peanut butter into the center of each celery piece.
Place raisins along the top like little "ants."
Count your ants!
Eat and enjoy.
How Kids Can Help
Wash the celery
Help cut the celery with an appropriate child-safe knife
Spread the peanut butter
Count the raisins
Line up the "ants"
Compare celery pieces
Make patterns with the raisins
Decide how many ants fit on each piece
Taste and compare the crunchy celery with the creamy spread
Kid Skill Highlights
Fine motor skills: Washing, cutting, spreading, and placing raisins
Counting practice: Counting raisins and celery pieces
Pattern recognition: Creating patterns with the "ants"
Sensory exploration: Comparing crunchy, creamy, soft, and chewy textures
Measurement and comparison: Noticing how many raisins fit on different-sized celery pieces
Kitchen confidence: Preparing a simple snack independently
Cooking Reflection
Pick a couple of questions to ask while making or eating your snack.
How many ants can you fit on one piece of celery?
Can you fit more ants on a longer piece?
Which texture do you notice first—the crunchy celery or the creamy peanut butter?
What happens if you use more or less peanut butter?
Can you make a pattern with your ants?
How many ants did you eat?
What would you put on your celery if you could create your own version?
Cooking Observations and The Science Behind Them
Even a simple snack gives us things to notice.
Texture: Celery feels crisp because its plant cells hold water and its cell walls provide structure. That's part of what gives celery its satisfying crunch.
Structure: When we cut celery, we can see some of the structures that help transport water and nutrients through the plant.
Water: Celery contains a lot of water. That's one reason fresh celery feels crisp and juicy when we bite into it.
Texture Contrast: Ants on a Log combines very different textures—crisp celery, creamy peanut butter, and chewy raisins. Comparing those textures is a simple way for kids to practice sensory observation.
Science Words to Know
You don't need to memorize these words! They're simply useful vocabulary for describing what you're noticing.
Vascular tissue: Plant tissues that transport water, minerals, and sugars throughout the plant.
Xylem: Plant tissue that carries water and dissolved minerals from the roots toward the rest of the plant.
Transpiration: The process where plants lose water vapor, mainly through tiny openings in their leaves.
Capillary action: The movement of liquid through narrow spaces, which helps explain how water can move through tiny tubes in plants.
Evaporation: When liquid water changes into water vapor.
Cell wall: A strong outer structure surrounding plant cells that helps give plants their shape.
Water content: The amount of water contained within something.
Structure: The way something is organized or put together.
Texture: How something feels, such as crisp, crunchy, soft, or smooth.
You can introduce just one word during the activity or come back to the vocabulary later. The goal is understanding, not memorization.
Closing
This week's celery reminded us that STEM doesn't have to start with an unusual object or a complicated experiment. Sometimes it starts with something sitting in the refrigerator. A stalk of celery became a chance to look closely at plant structure, watch water move through a plant, learn new vocabulary, and ask questions about how plants work.
Then we took some of that same fresh celery into the kitchen and noticed something completely different: crunch, texture, water, flavor, and change.
That's what I love about using the food already around us for learning. We don't always need to create a lesson. Sometimes we just need to notice what's already in front of us. And sometimes, after we've finished noticing, we get to eat the fresh version of what we explored.
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