Why does a bare patch of dirt turn green after rain?

Think of a bare patch of dirt by the path or in the garden, brown and dry. Maybe you have pressed your fingers into it and felt how hard and crumbly it was. Then a few rainy days come along.

Soon after, that same brown patch is covered in small green specks, as if someone dabbed it with paint. So why does a bare patch of dirt turn green after rain? Let's find out together.

That dirt was never really empty. Lots of seeds lie hidden inside it, and some of them are smaller than a grain of sugar. They are so small and brown that your eyes slide right past them.

These seeds are dormant, which means resting and waiting without growing. A dry seed stays dormant because it has no water, and a seed cannot start to grow without water. So each one lies still in the dry dirt, waiting for a good drink.

Then the rain comes. The raindrops soak down into the dirt and reach the hidden seeds. Each seed drinks the water in and swells up, plumper than before.

The water wakes the dormant seed. The baby plant curled up inside starts to grow, and it pushes so hard that the seed's tough skin cracks open. What do you think pokes out of that crack first?

A thin root pokes out first and grows down into the damp dirt. The root holds the young plant in place, and it sips up more water so the plant can keep growing.

Next, a little stem pushes up through the dirt and out into the air, carrying its first tiny leaves. Now the baby plant is a seedling, which means a very young plant that has just come out of its seed.

Each seedling has green leaves, and those leaves soak up sunlight. The sunlight helps the leaves make food, so the seedling can grow taller and stronger.

One seedling alone is almost too small to spot. But the rain woke hundreds of seeds at the same time, so hundreds of seedlings pop up side by side. Together, all their green leaves cover the brown dirt, and the whole patch looks green.

Here are our two words: dormant, seedling. Tiny dormant seeds were hiding in the dirt all along, and the rain gave them the water they needed to wake up and grow into green seedlings.

Next time you spot a fresh green patch after the rain, you can smile and wave hello to all those brand new seedlings.