Gardening season is upon us, even here in the Northeast where winter tends to linger. To get in the spirit before you tackle tomatoes or cabbage, try making a grass-seed caterpillar with your kids.

The short instructions are to mix dirt and grass seed and stuff into an old nylon stocking, then water and wait. (I always knew the femme part of my wardrobe would come in handy.) See this page from the Claude E. Phillips Herbarium for full details. (I should give credit, however, to the April issue of my son’s Your Big Backyard magazine for first alerting me to the idea, though they don’t yet have this project online.)