Prepare For Summer: Get That Green Thumb Growing!
Every spring we plant beans and my students love it. So you can do the same at home. If you have a yard, help them plant a few things that are theirs to take care of. If a windowsill is all the yard you have, go to the local gardening store and buy a few flowering plants, or a few succulents that use less water. And put your child in charge. They have to take care of them: water them, maybe transplant them if they get to big and make sure they’re doing alright. You can even root and plant cuttings clipped carefully from some of the neighborhood gardens.
This provides a great routine for summer time, and also helps kids to become more independent by learning to take care of something and to be responsible for it. If the plant or flower dies because they forgot to take care of it after you reminded them for a week straight, they will learn something from that experience just as they will have if the plant grows all summer. And hey, if the plant dies, get back down to the store and get them another. Farmers deal with the same variables as the Window Sill Gardener: weather, water, sun and pests. There’s a lot to be learned from a bean planted in a milk carton and given some attention.
You can also talk about the fact that by planting, we are helping the Earth because plants create oxygen – the more we plant, the better the air is for us to breathe.
When I plant seeds in my classroom, I have my students make observations. Have your kid make a drawing every couple of days of the plant. At the end of the summer, they’ll have their own self-published book. You can add photos to it, too.
Also, learn the different parts of the plants as well. Click here for a great diagram of a plant. I got it from a great website called Exploring Nature.
And no book goes along with planting than The Carrot Seed (for K-1)
So get those green thumbs going!
June 21st, 2009
