Learning in the Garden

Gardening is such a wonderful learning experience for kids. Not only is gardening an useful lifeskill, but it also provides an excellent opportunity to learn about plant science and garden insects, practice math skills, and much more. In this post I share some activity ideas for learning in the garden, plus some links to resources if you want to dive in deeper.

If you're looking for a printable garden unit study, I have one available here: Learning in the Garden Printable Unit Study Pack.

Garden Math

Garden size calculations

-Have your child measure your garden space and calculate the perimeter and area.

-Help your child calculate the amount of garden soil you will need for your garden and how much it will cost.

Plant spacing

Give your child ruler or tape measure and have them help measure the right amount of space between seeds or plants as you're planting your garden.

Measure and track plant growth

-Once your seeds sprout, have your child measure and record their daily growth.

-Count leaves, flowers, and fruit/vegetables as they develop.

Counting and sorting seeds

Younger kids can practice their counting and sorting skills by counting or sorting seeds.

Explore Symmetry

-Talk about symmetry and asymmetry and then look at leaves and flowers in the garden and discuss whether or not they are symmetrical.

-Choose a leaf to pick. Cut it in half along the center vein. Tape one half to a piece of paper and challenge your child to sketch the missing half.

*For another great garden math activity, check out this blog post from STEAM MA: Real Life = Real Math Lesson

Garden Science

Seed anatomy

-Teach your kids about seeds and their anatomy. Here are some good resources:

-Easy Science for Kids: Structure of a Seed

-SciShow Kids- What's Inside a Bean?

Plant anatomy

-Teach your kids about the different parts of a plant. Here are some good resources:

-Homeschool Pop- Plant Parts and Functions

-SciShow Kids- Look Inside a Flower

-Ducksters- Biology for Kids- Plants

Explore what plants need to grow

Talk about the things plants need to grow- sunlight, soil (or another source of nutrients), air, and water. Try growing some seeds without one of these things. What happens if you try to grow a seed without light? How about without water?

Check out these resources:

-SciShow Kids- How Does a Seed Become a Plant?

-Bean Growth Time Lapse Video

Learn about garden insects

-Journal and research about the different insects you come across in the garden.

-Learn about insects that are beneficial to the garden like pollinators and insects that eat harmful garden insects.

-Learn about insects that can be harmful to the garden like aphids and hornworms.

Language Arts in the Garden

Make lists

-Have your child make a list of plants they would like to grow.

-Have your child take inventory and make a list of all your seeds.

-Have your child write a shopping list of the supplies needed for this year's garden.

Garden journaling

Make some journaling sheets or grab a free printable one here. Encourage your kids to draw and write about the changes they see in the garden each day.

Garden writing prompts

-Describe the lifecycle of a plant from the perspective of a plant.

-Write a description of your dream garden.

-Write about a change you've noticed in your garden recently

-If you could be any garden insect which would you be and why?

Write an acrostic poem

Acrostic poems are poems in which the first letter of each line spell out a word. Challenge your kids to write an acrostic poem featuring the word "GARDEN" or "FLOWER".

Garden Geography

-Have your kids create a garden plan before you plant and a garden map after you plant.

-Learn about planting zones and what types of plants grow best in your climate.

Garden Art

Make garden markers:

Make markers for your garden rows by painting crop names on rocks. Use acrylic paint and some sort of weatherproof sealant.

Paint pots:

Paint terra cotta pots with acrylic paints. Then seal with a weatherproof sealant

Make a fairy houses:

Make fairy houses to decorate your garden. You can make your own with popsicle sticks or terra cotta pots, or just buy tiny wooden bird houses to paint. Here are a few posts with fun fairy garden ideas:

-Fairy garden ideas: 13 ways to bring some magic to your backyard

-Prudent Penny Pincher-101 Best DIY Fairy Garden Ideas

If you enjoyed this post, check out my printable Learning in the Garden Pack:

Learning in the Garden Printable Unit Study Pack

Follow me on
Facebook

Instagram

Comments

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place. Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team. The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects Penny Spinners- Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here: Printable Rock and Mineral Journal , and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional) -Rock and mineral guide (optional) -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

Learning About Thailand: Activities and Resources

Thailand ended up being a really fun country to study. There are so many amazing Thai recipes to try and lots of neat buildings and monuments to learn about. My family's favorite part of this unit study was learning about Asian elephants, they are such interesting and intelligent animals! Basic Information Thailand is a country in southern Asia. It is boarderd by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Andaman Sea. The northern region is mountainous while the southern region is hilly and forested. Capital- Bangkok Population- 69.6 million Size- 198,115 square miles Currency- Baht Type of Government- Constitutional Monarchy National Anthem- Phleng Chat Thai National Animal- elephant Flag Famous Places The Grand Palace- The Grand Palace in Bangkok was used as the official royal residence of Thailand from 1782 to 1925. It is still used today for ceremonies and state functions. The palace sits on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. It consists of many buildings and pavilions set around a

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean

Search This Blog