How does your garden grow?
With cockleshells and silver bells
And pretty maids all in a row.
If you haven't guessed it yet these next few weeks have been our garden theme. This theme lends itself to plenty of outdoor activities.
We kicked off the week with a small children's garden set up in the back yard.
I've switched over the girls' kitchen into Flower Shop.
Included are:
Fake flowers a plenty
Vases
Water can
Spray bottle
Garden party hats
And a small tea set to enjoy some tea with their created bouquets
They are loving arranging the flowers in different combinations.
Here are just a few of the activities we did together.
Garden Tic Tac Toe
Materials
10 small rocks
4 sticks
2 different paint colors
Instructions
Paint 5 rocks one color
Paint the other 5 rocks the other color
Lay out the sticks in a hash tag format in your garden or any surface.
One player is the first color rocks (X's)
Player two is the second color rocks (O's)
Play until one player gets three in a row.
Love to play this for math. Such a great way for problem solving and strategizing.
Garden Snail Hopscotch
Materials
Sidewalk chalk
A sidewalk
Small rock
Instructions
With the chalk draw a large spiral
Then draw lines with in the spiral to create spaces large enough to fit the kids feet.
Draw any numbers you may be focusing on inside the spaces. One per space.
*** don't limit yourself to just numbers. Maybe your are working on letters, shapes or colors. Write those in the spaces instead or do a combination.
Maybe for older kids you're working on sight words, vocabulary, math equations..... Really anything can go in the spaces to swith it up.
This is great gross motor skills and number recognition.
Crown of Roses
I got this idea here and switched it up.
Materials
Egg carton
Scissors
Hole punch
Paint color(s) of your choice
Paint brushes
Ribbon
Glitter glue (optional)
For non painting toddler:
Washable markers
Instructions
Cut the egg carton apart leaving the egg "seats" in tacked.
Have your child paint the seats which ever colors you chose. We chose pink and red. (I had my toddler use washable markers to "paint" hers mostly bc I flubbed up and didn't realize I ran out of kid paint. Eh, improvise!)
Let dry.
Apply glitter glue if desired.
Let dry.
Have your child punch the holes one in each side of they can. This may be your task.
Thread ribbon through the holes.
Tie around child's head and admire.
Maybe go have a rain dance in your garden or flit around like a garden fairy.
INDEPENDENT TRAYS
These activites are designed for the child to engage in it independently with little to no instruction or guidance from you.
Seed Exploration
Materials
Varied packets of seeds
Tray
Small bowls to hold seeds
Magnifying Glass
Instructions
Allow students to explore the seeds as they want.
Observe and Illustrate Flowers
Variety of real or fake (if you do the above Flower Shop I just took some from there)
Two vases
Colored pencils
Butcher paper
Instructions
Lay out a piece of the butcher paper
Put all the flowers into one vase.
Child chooses one to observe and places it into the second vase.
Child then uses the pencils to illustrate what they see.
Garden Gloves
Materials
Tray
Set of garden gloves. I have two sets but one is fine. I have one set that will fit and another adult size.
Instructions
Allow child to try on the gloves.
It takes LOTS of practice to get their fingers in the right holes! ;)
Once they master this you'll thank me for not having to help them every. Single. Time. They go out with their snow gloves. ;)
I also have them on the correct left and right sides to practice that.
TODDLER TIME
Simple Dirt Free Garden
Materials
Old box (I used an empty frozen waffle box)
Green Popsicle sticks (easily can use plain ones and color them)
Brown paper the size of the top of the box.
Box cutter
Tape
Instructions
Measure the box and cut out the brown paper according to measurements.
Tape paper onto box. You could glue if you prefer but I was impatient so I taped the edges. Worked fine.
Using the box cutter carefully make slits through the paper and box.
Done. Allow your toddler to sow and reap.
*** you could easily use beans as seeds for this. It would be great fine motor practice. I chose sticks mostly because my toddler would try to eat the beans and I created this as an independent activity for her to do.
The following are some of the books we have been reading that are Garden Themed.
The Curious Garden by: Peter Brown
Planting a Rainbow by: Lois Ehlert
The Gardener by: Sarah Stewart
Oh Can You Seed? By Dr. Suess
The Carrot Seed by: Ruth Krauss
From Seed to Plant by: Gail Gibbons
The Good Garden by: Katie Smith Milway
My Garden by: Kevin Henkes
The Tiny Seed by: Eric Carle
Miss Rumphius by: Barbara Cooney
Plant a Kiss by: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Jo MacDonald Had A Garden by: Mary Quattlebaum
Dirt on My Shirt selected poems by: Jeff Foxworthy
How Things Grow by: Eric Carle
The Vegetable Alphabet Book by: Jerry Pallotta
Let me know if you read any of these from the list and if you do any Literature Connection Activities with them!
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