Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading ECN Radio Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Subscribe today to our bi-weekly newsletter!   ACTIVITY Choosing Garden Plants (Part 1) By Rae Ann Hirsh This activity allows the school-age child to take initiative, begin plans for an adult-oriented task, and develop both math and spatial skills. This activity is part one of a three- part garden project. Curriculum Area Science, Math, Spatial Relationships, Art Before You Start Gather appropriate garden and seed catalogs that display plants that grow in your region. Decide in advance how many gardens you have space for and how many children will be in each group. Let's Begin 1. Display the garden catalogs and seed catalogs. Have the children work in groups of four or six (depending upon the outdoor space you have available for a garden.). 2. Invite each group of children to look through the catalogs and choose a theme for their garden. (Theme suggestions: pizza garden, rainbow garden, tea garden, craft garden, cut flower garden, fairy garden, stone soup garden, etc.) 3. Have the children choose six kinds of plants that they would like to have grow in their themed garden. Have each group draw each plant on a small piece of paper. Have the group decide how many of each kind of plant will fit in a six-foot by six-foot area. 4. Encourage the children to make a drawing for each plant they will add to the garden. (If they choose six sunflowers, then they need to draw six sunflowers – one on each small square.) 5. Encourage the children to think about the shape, color, functionality, and height of each plant they choose. Furthermore A garden expert could be brought in to talk about this project or the children could visit a local botanical garden. Save the pictures for the following activity, which will involve using the pictures in a three-dimensional garden model.   Construction paper, cut into small 1 inch square pieces Garden catalogs Seed catalogs Crayons Markers Two-Tiered Mini Greenhouse Lightweight Construction Paper, 9" x 12" - 500 Sheets Colorations® Chubby Crayons - Set of 200 Colorations® Super Washable Classic Markers - Set of 200 Articles and activities listed on this website may be printed for single use. No article or activity may be duplicated or distributed in any form, in whole or in part, without permission from the publisher, Excelligence Learning Corporation. Contact Permissions Department.

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