Garden Theme Week 2

Week two of our garden theme has begun! And I'm very excited that progress in our sweet kids garden has shown growth!

The sunflowers my daughter planted from seeds are sprouting! 

It truly is a miracle. No joke. I can not seem to grow anything. Even when I get plants "pre grown" they die. I do not have a green thumb. Hoping because it was my daughter doing the planting that she did not inherit this curse. 

We went on a garden field trip to my sweet friend's house who DOES have a green thumb! 

Her yard is gorgeous with veggies and flowers growing abundantly. 

They played a fun game of find the plant "this" vegetable or fruit came from. 

They got to gather flowers, water the plants and learn from a hand that knows. It's a a wonderful hands in learning experience for the girls. 

INDEPENDENT TRAYS

PRESCHOOL 

Parts of a Plant

Materials

Parts of a plant cards (easily made but can be found here)

Real or fake flower to observe 

Instructions

Have child observe flower 

Then have them place the picture cards in the correct order 

Last have them match the parts cards to the correct part of the flower. 

Flower Punch 

Materials

Flower punches 

Small paper (I used index cards) 

Instructions

Have child insert paper into punch. 

Punch. 

Simple. I plan to use the flowers for a project later. 

Seed Journal with Booklet 

Materials

Packets of various seeds 

Ziplocs in the amount of your packets

Crayons or colored pencils

Lunch bag

Paper cut in half 

Instructions

Make this first: 

Empty seeds into sandwich bags one per bag. 

Put the packet in with them. 

Line up zippers. 

Staple twice. This keeps the bags from sliding. 

Then roll bags to make tighter. 

Staple again. 

This should make a booklet like this. 

Then cut the paper bag so it's just longer than the sheets of halved papers. I cut the open end off so there would be a "spine" already made from the bottom of the bag. 

Cut very slightly the sides of the bag so it opens wide. 

Place sheets of halved papers inside. 

Close up bag so it's like a cover. 

Staple. 

Now for the child's part

Have child "read" the seed book. 

Then the child can illustrate the seeds and write what kind they are. 

Seed Sort

Materials 

As many seeds as you'd like (I used the same seeds from the above activity.) 

A sectioned tray (an ice cube tray would work) 

Small sow bowl (I used a washed out feta cheese container) 

Rice to fill bowl 

Index cards

Markers 

Tape

Instructions

Pour rice into bowl along with the seeds (I used 10 of each to help me keep track) 

Draw pictures of each seeds plant and tape into tray 

Child is to find the seeds and sort them by their plant. 

TODDLER TIME

Aroma Garden

Materials

Plastic salt and pepper shakers

Varied scents

I used:

Cinnamon

Lemon

Cloves

Basil

Lavender

Chocolate mint

Rosemary

Elderberry

Instructions

Place some of the above into each shaker. 

Put too back on. 

Let child smell away and guess what they are smelling. 

Sensory Bin

Garden 

Materials

Black beans to fill bin

Small flower pots

Fake flowers

Scoop

Anything else garden fun 

Instructions 

Let your child play. 

That's it. They will guide themselves in their play and hone fine motor skills with this bin. 

To close out the past two weeks we hosted a Garden Party. 

We had some special "garden" treats. 

We had two different activites at the party. 

Flower Petal Watercolors 

I got the idea here

Word Flower Picking 

Materials 

Foam flowers

Sharpie

Masking tape

Chalk

Instructions

Write the words (letters) you are working on onto the foam flowers. 

Tape flowers into fence

Draw stems 

Then call out a word and they have o find it and pick it.