For each theme, we create a special tool in response to a special request. (Open poster-No toys) Print and display.
(Open educ-poster-Purple) Print and laminate. Display the poster within the daycare and use it to help children identify a new color.
Here are a few suggestions you can use to spark a conversation with your group.
- What is a garden?
- Do you know someone who has a garden?
- Have you ever seen a garden?
- Did you know that there are different types of gardens (vegetable, flower, fields)
- Have different types of flowers on hand and have fun comparing them with your group (color, smell, shape, etc.)
- Use a poster to identify the various flower parts.
- Invite children to taste different types of fruits which can be grown in a garden (berries, tomatoes, etc.)
- Gather gardening tools and accessories. Let children manipulate them. Name each tool or accessory (shovel, glove, rake, etc.)
- Which vegetables can be grown in a garden?
- What must we plant to grow a garden (seeds)?
- What do seeds need in order to grow (water, sun, proper care)?
Deposit vegetable illustrations on the floor to form a circle. Children will love sitting around the vegetable circle during circle time. Before children arrive, create a vegetable path between the daycare entrance and your circle time area. Dissect one or two flowers to show children the various parts. You may name the parts and ask children to repeat them.
(Open educa-decorate-The garden) Print, cut out, and laminate. Use the illustrations to decorate your walls or hang them from the ceiling throughout the theme.
(Open educa-decorate-Vegetables) Print, cut out, and laminate. Use the illustrations to decorate your walls or hang them from the ceiling throughout the theme.
The pictures may be used as a memory game or to spark a conversation with your group. They may also be used to decorate the daycare or a specific thematic corner. (Open picture game-The garden) Print, laminate, and store in a Ziploc bag or in your thematic bin.
Writing activity-G like garden
(Open writing activities-G like garden) Print for each child or laminate for use with a dry-erase marker.
(Open stationery-Vegetables) Print. Use the stationery to communicate with parents, in your writing area, or to identify your thematic bins.
(Open activity sheets-The garden) (Open activity sheets-Vegetables) (Open activity sheets-Flowers) Print and follow instructions.
(Open educa-nuudles-The garden) Print for each child. Have children color the activity sheet and use Magic Nuudles to give it a three-dimensional look. Variation: If you do not have Magic Nuudles, simply have children fill the spaces with bingo markers or stickers.
To purchase Magic Nuudles
- Different sizes of empty flower pots which can be used to build towers.
- Tools and a small workbench can be used to build flower boxes.
- Gear and assembly games can be used to create flowers.
- Small fruit or vegetable baskets.
- Cardboard apple baskets.
Arts & crafts:
- Decorate your arts & crafts area with pictures of flowers, they may inspire children!
- Pictures of gardens, vegetables, flowers, etc.
- Flower models children may reproduce.
- Cardboard, tissue paper, egg cartons, recycled materials, and plenty of imagination... children will create all kinds of flowers.
- Provide pipe cleaners, drinking straws, and Popsicle sticks for stems.
- Fabric flower petals or dried flowers can be used to make collages.
- Let children paint on plastic flower pots. They can use them to display the flowers they make throughout the theme.
- Stencils shaped like flowers or various garden elements.
- Garden coloring pages (tools, plants, vegetables, etc.)
- Flower coloring pages.
- Drawings which can be covered with glue and decorated with seeds (flower seeds or other types of seeds).
- Set up a flower shop area. Include ribbon, transparent wrapping paper, fabric flowers, and unbreakable vases. You can also add pictures of real flowers.
- Organize a gardening area. Include various gardening accessories (toys), watering cans, empty plant pots, etc. You may also offer gardening gloves, a sun hat, a short hose, and knee protectors.
- Create a market area. Simply set up a display including various products which can be grown in a garden (vegetables, flowers, etc.) Children can pretend to buy and sell the products. Add a cash register, invoice booklets, etc.
- Memory game with flower illustrations found in the educatall club.
- Memory game with vegetable illustrations.
- Flower or other garden-related puzzles.
- Pictures of various flowers and small plastic containers (for pills) filled with seeds along with smaller flower pictures for an association activity.
- Scent game (cotton balls in containers) with flower scents and other scents which are easy to recognize.
- Flower illustrations which can be sorted by color.
- Modeling dough and artificial flowers. Children can plant them in the dough to create bouquets and use cookie cutters shaped like flowers to make original creations. You can add rose essence to the dough for an added touch.
- Books about flowers, planting seeds, and gardens.
- Gardening magazines. Ask parents if they have magazines from previous years.
- Flower posters and pictures can be used to decorate your daycare walls.
- Dot-to-dot flowers for tracing.
- Flower or vegetable illustrations where children must identify the differences.
- Hunt and seek activities.
- Games with educatall.com word flashcards.
- An obstacle course. Children complete the course while holding a flower or vegetable in their hands.
- Children pretend to stretch like a flower...from the tiny seed to flowering time.
- A musical flower game. Simply glue colourful flowers on the floor. The possibilities are endless!
- Create a flower-filled hopscotch. Just replace the numbers with the correct number of flowers.
- A container filled with soil. Add gardening tools, tiny plastic containers for digging, emptying, filling, etc.
- Create your own miniature garden by filling a large container with soil. You can plant the seeds indoors and continue the project outdoors later on.
- Show children how a flower changes color when placed in a vase filled with water and food coloring.
- Create your own miniature greenhouse and observe the changes over a period of several days or even weeks.
- Purchase edible flowers (some varieties are readily available in supermarkets).
- Why not visit your local flower shop or gardening center? They are packed with learning opportunities.
Word flashcards-The garden
The flashcards may be used to spark a conversation with your group, in your reading and writing area, or even to identify your thematic bins. (Open word flashcards-The garden) soil, watering can, hose, shovel, gloves, seeds, bush, vegetables, ladybug, fertilizer, grass, flower box
(Open word flashcards-Vegetables) celery, beet, onion, carrot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bean, cucumber, turnip, radish, lettuce
(Open word flashcards-Flowers) daffodil, tulip, carnation, rose, pansy, lily, daisy, iris, lilac, lily of the valley, orchid, sunflower
(Open sequential story-Vegetables) Print, laminate, and cut out the illustrations. Ask children to place them in the correct order to recreate the story. For younger children, you may remove one or more illustrations.
(Open sequential story-Flowers) Print, laminate, and cut out the illustrations. Children must place them in the correct order to recreate the story.
(Open multicoloured flowers) Print several flowers. Deposit them on the floor throughout the daycare to create a flower garden. Children will enjoy walking on the flowers.
ACTIVITIES FOR BABIES
Deposit several vegetables in a container and let babies manipulate them. They will roll them and transport them throughout the daycare.
Vegetable picture book
Collect several vegetable pictures and create your own vegetable picture book. Babies will enjoy looking at the vegetables during transition periods.
Deposit several vegetable illustrations on the floor to create a path. Invite babies to walk or crawl on the vegetables. Name the vegetables as they move along.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND MOTOR SKILLS
(Open lacing-The garden) Print, laminate, and punch holes around the contour of each vegetable. Provide laces with a knot at one end. Children will enjoy lacing the vegetables over and over again.
My garden is growing!
Children pretend they are a tiny seed in the ground (they curl up in a ball). Tell them that it is starting to rain (they move a little bit, but remain curled up in a ball). The seed then sprouts (children lift their head and their upper body). The sun shines and the seed grows and grows (children slowly stand). The seed becomes a beautiful flower (children stretch and strike an original pose). The wind blows (children keep their feet firmly on the ground and sway from side to side).
Follow the gardener
Guide the children and have them act out various gardening activities such as turning over the soil, planting seeds and covering them with soil, watering the garden with a watering can or a hose, pulling weeds, picking vegetables, etc.
(Open game-Garden) Print six copies. Laminate and glue the illustrations on the floor so that children can hop on identical vegetables (from cabbage to cabbage for example). Name a vegetable. Children hop on the corresponding vegetable. When you name another vegetable, children must change their route. Variation: For a group of six children, use six illustrations of each vegetable. Play music. When the music stops, children must quickly stand on the vegetable you call out.
In my garden
Sit in a circle with your group. Children take turns saying, "In my garden, I plant..." Children must repeat the vegetables planted by the other children and add one of their own.
Set up a gardening corner in your backyard. Include wagons, toy lawn mowers, gardening tools, plastic flower pots, fabric flowers, gloves, etc. You may also add a kiddie pool and fill it with soil and plastic vegetables (use old or broken plastic vegetables).
Create a small garden in one corner of your backyard. Plant a variety of vegetables. Children can care for their garden.
My garden path
Create an obstacle course complete with balance beams, tunnels, hula hoops, etc. Throughout the obstacle course, glue vegetable illustrations. Children must complete the obstacle course, picking vegetables as they move along.
Stand in a circle with your group. Select two or three types of flowers. Two or three children are daisies, two or three children are roses, and the others are tulips. Children change places whenever you call out their kind of flower.
Garden obstacle course
Use your garden furniture to create a maze. Deposit obstacles such as a rope tied to two chairs children must crawl under or a hose which children must hop over throughout the maze.
MUSICAL AND RYTHMIC ACTIVITIES
Sit in a circle with your group. To the sound of music, children pass one or more plastic vegetables around. When the music stops, the child holding the vegetable must keep it. The game continues. At the end of the game, children count their vegetables to see how many they collected.
Divide your group into two teams. Have each team sit at a table and give each team a single piece of paper (large) and crayons. Play fast-paced music. The goal of the game is to draw the biggest flower field before the song ends.
(Open multicoloured flowers) (Open multicoloured butterflies) Print and cut out the models. Deposit the flowers on the floor. Give each child one butterfly which is the same color as one of the flowers. The game is played much like musical chairs, but without competition. Children walk around the flowers until the music stops. They must then find the flower which matches their butterfly. Before continuing the game, children can exchange butterflies.
(Open educ-differences-The garden) Print and laminate for durable, eco-friendly use. Children must identify the number of differences indicated on the page and circle them using a dry-erase marker.
(Open educ-math-The garden) Print and laminate for durable, eco-friendly use. Children must count the objects and circle the correct number.
Educ-same and different-The garden
(Open educ-same and different-The garden) Print and laminate for durable, eco-friendly use. Children must circle the illustration which is different in each row.
(Open educ-trace-The garden) Print for each child. Children must trace the lines with the correct color and then color the objects with the corresponding color.
Lotto game-The garden
(Open lotto game-The garden) Print the playing cards and small illustrations. Children take turns picking an illustration and checking their playing card for the item. If they have it, they place the little card on top of the corresponding item. If they do not have it, they deposit the card in the center.
Magnifying glass game-The garden
(Open magnifying glass game-The garden) Print and laminate the board game and the cards. Cut them out and store them in a Ziploc bag. Children pick a card and search for the item on the board game using a magnifying glass. Once they have found the item, they deposit it in the correct square on the board game.
(Open educ-association-Vegetables) Print the game. Glue the first two pages inside a file folder. Cover with Mac-Tac. Laminate the illustrations and cut them out. Stick a piece of Velcro behind each illustration and on each illustration on the board game (you may also use adhesive putty). Children associate the illustrations. When they have found the correct association, they simply stick the card in the correct place.
Big and small-Vegetables
(Open big and small-Vegetables) Print and laminate. Children must place the cards in the correct order on the game board, from smallest to biggest.
(Open puzzles-Vegetables) Print, laminate, and cut out. Children must place the pieces correctly to recreate the scenes.
(Open educ-math-Vegetables) Print and laminate for durable, eco-friendly use. Children must count the objects and circle the correct number.
(Open story and memory game-Vegetables) Print two copies and cut out the cards. Glue the items to the top of frozen juice cans. Deposit the cards face down on the floor. Children turn over two cards. If they are identical, they keep them and play again. If not, their turn is over.
(Open word flashcards-Flowers) Print and laminate. Stand in a circle with your group. Spread the word flashcards out in the center of the circle. Give each child a flower name (daisy, rose, tulip, daffodil, pansy, carnation, lilac, sunflower, lily, iris, orchid, etc.) Name a flower and ask a child to run to the center of the circle to find the corresponding flashcard.
Hunt and seek
(Open hunt and seek-Flowers) Print and laminate. Children pick a card and search for the item in the scene.
(Open puzzle-Flower) Print, laminate, and cut out. Children must place the pieces correctly to recreate the scene.
Bring me flowers
Use the picture game which can be found in the "Flowers" theme. (Open picture game-Flowers) Place the cards in front of your group. Stand at the other end of the daycare. Say : "(Child's name), bring me a daisy." The child must find the correct card and give it to you. Ask another child to bring you another flower and so on until you have a beautiful bouquet!
ACTIVITIES INVOLVING PARENTS
Ask parents if they have a garden at home. If they do, ask them if you can visit it with your group.
Garden centre visit
Invite parents to join you on a trip to your local garden centre. Children will enjoy observing different types of vegetable plants, flowers, and gardening accessories.
Ask each child to bring a vegetable from home. Use the different vegetables to create an original recipe with the children's help. Call it your vegetarian combo. The challenge is to use all the vegetables in a single recipe. If there is a vegetable which absolutely cannot be used in the recipe itself, use it to decorate the plate. Children will surely love this new recipe!
Flower in the wind
Children stand next to each other on a line, leaving one arm's length between them and the friends standing next to them. They become flowers. They raise their arms up in the air, they sway in the wind. The wind gets stronger and stronger. They swing their arms faster and faster. The wind turns, their arms spin like a helicopter propeller. Remember to end the activity with a calm wind, offering children the opportunity to wind down.
ACTIVITIES TO PRACTICE SOCIAL ABILITIES
The flower dance
(Open multicoloured flowers) Print two copies. Distribute the small cards representing flowers, giving one to each child. Make sure you distribute two of each flower. Children must find the child who has the same flower. Once they find each other, the two children become dance partners. When the song ends, redistribute the cards and start over!
MORAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Set up a garden corner within the daycare. Fill a large container with soil and add gardening tools, plastic vegetables, and an empty watering can (to avoid messes). Children will enjoy gardening and picking vegetables out of the soil. Variation: Add a container of water (plastic) and let children wash the vegetables they pick.
Hang a large banner on the wall (or on a fence). Glue a few different types of seeds at the bottom and ask children to draw what they think will grow...
EARLY SCIENCE / EXPLORATION / MANIPULATION
My living plate
Give each child a paper plate. Ask them to dip cotton balls in water and to use them to cover the bottom of their plate. Sprinkle alfalfa seeds on top and invite children to deposit their plate on a sunny windowsill. The next day (or 48 hours later) sprouts will begin to appear. Children will love eating them!
My garden in a container
Purchase a very large container. Make holes in the bottom and add approximately 1-2 inches of pebbles. Fill the container with soil. With your group, plant a variety of vegetables (beans, carrots, and radishes grow well). Show children how to care for a garden. Pick your vegetables when they are ready and enjoy!
(Open step by step guide to planting seeds) Print and display. Try following the steps with the children in your group.
Give each child a potato and colourful toothpicks. Fill a plate with colourful food items such as marshmallows, banana pieces, raisins, apple slices, grapes, strawberries, etc. Encourage each child to create an original Mr. Potato.
Manipulation bin-The garden
Fill a container with soil and add a few vegetables (with leaves) to create a pretend garden. Provide gardening tools.
The cut potato
Cut a potato in two. Deposit half in a plate so children can observe it and deposit the second half in a transparent container filled with water. Observe the changes throughout the day and week.
Place a celery stalk with its leaves attached in colourful water. The leaves will turn the same colour as the water. You may give each child a celery stalk, a glass of water, and food coloring. Write each child's name on his container. Use different colors.
Red, white, yellow, and blue potatoes
Observe, manipulate, and eat different kinds of potatoes... white, red, yellow, blue, etc.
My flower box
Fill a container with soil and add gardening tools, plastic flowers, and an empty watering can. Children will love pretending they are planting flowers in their own flower box.
Dip cotton balls in perfume oil. Drop the cotton balls in empty margarine containers in which you punched holes. Make sure the covers are secured with adhesive tape. If you do not have perfume oil, use scented candles or soaps which smell like flowers. You can show children pictures of various flowers and use them for an association activity.
Plants are alive
Find two plants which are similar. Place one plant in the sun and water it regularly with your group. Place the second plant in the shade and do not water it. Observe the differences and discuss what plants need to survive.
Grow, grow, grow
Give each child a Ziploc bag and have them deposit a cotton ball inside. Give them bean seeds and tell them to drop them on the cotton ball. Have them add a small quantity of water. Seal the bags and stick them in a window. Explain that seeds need sunlight to grow. In just a few days, children will be amazed to see the seeds grow! Variation 1: You can do the same exercise with tiny yogurt containers filled with soil. Add seeds and place them on a windowsill. Variation 2: You can also use Styrofoam drinking glasses. Have children draw eyes, a nose, and a mouth on their glass. Plant grass seeds in the soil. Children will love to see their character's hair grow!
I am so thirsty
You will need three white carnations and three drinking glasses. Pour a small quantity of water in each glass. Add food coloring to two of the glasses. Place a carnation in each glass and wait for the result. The flowers placed in the glasses which contain food coloring will change color!
You will need orange juice, soda (7-Up), and strawberry or peach yogurt. Pour all the ingredients into a blender and mix. Pour the mixture into glasses and decorate them with flowers. Serve the flower nectar as a snack.
I am eating flowers
Purchase edible flowers. They can be found in specialty stores and certain supermarkets.
Serve various types of seeds at snack time: sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc. Compare them to different vegetable seeds (shape, color, etc.) Beware of allergies.
Prepare sugar cookies with your group. Use cookie cutters shaped like flowers, fruits, vegetables, etc. Serve the cookies at snack time. Why not organize a picnic?
Gather several vegetables and butter knives (round tips). Prepare vegetable soup with your group.
ARTS & CRAFTS
(Open moving scarecrow) Print for each child. Have children cut out the various parts. Assemble them with fasteners.
(Open puppets-gardener) Print the model of your choice. Have children decorate their puppet as they wish and attach a Popsicle stick to the back.
Give each child four paper muffin cups and one green Popsicle stick (or have them color it green). Flatten two muffin cups and glue them back to back. Glue the two other muffin cups (not flattened) on top. Add a yellow or orange circle in the center of each flower. You could prepare an entire flower field! Simply plant them in foam blocks.
Collect different sizes of rocks. Wash them and have children paint them. They can also add glitter to the paint for an extra special touch. The painted rocks can be used to decorate your group's miniature gardens or to play in your construction area.
(Open mobile-Vegetables) Print for each child. Ask children to color and cut out the various vegetables and assemble them to create a mobile. You may use a hanger, a perforated plastic container, or a paper plate as a support for your mobile.
Trace or draw vegetable shapes and ask children to fill them with crumpled pieces of tissue paper.
Modeling dough veggies
Provide modeling dough (or salt dough) and let children sculpt colourful vegetables. Let dry.
My favourite flower
Provide several books which include flower illustrations for inspiration. Children can draw their favourite flower and present their choice to their friends.
Make your own paper tablecloth for a special picnic. Use vegetables as paintbrushes (celery, carrots, potatoes, etc.) A celery heart, when cut at the base, looks like a rose while the heart of an apple looks like a star. Just dip them in paint and make prints on your tablecloth. Let dry.
Trace vegetable shapes on large pieces of cardboard (2 of each). Cut them out and staple them together, leaving the top open. Ask children to stuff the shapes with newspaper. When they are done, staple it closed and let children paint their giant veggies.
Set a large white banner on a table. Give children corn cobs and let them paint away. They can roll the corn cobs in the paint and then on the paper.
Visit your local supermarket and request spoiled vegetables. Use them to paint with your group. Asparagus make great paintbrushes, carrots make fine lines like pens, etc.
My flower necklace
(Open models-Flowers) Print. Use only the smaller models. Let children color the flowers and cut them out. Make a tiny hole in the center of each flower. Give children string and have them thread the flowers.
Draw a flower on the inner part of a Styrofoam meat tray. Trace the same lines with glue. Wrap with yarn. Fill the empty spaces with glue (one space at a time). Cover the glue with different colors of yarn. Add a piece of yarn to the top to hang your flower.
Tissue paper flower bouquet
Cut several tissue paper circles. Use six circles for each flower. Secure them with a pipe cleaner and pinch the center. Separate each layer to make nice, big flowers. You can spray the flowers with perfume if you wish to make a scented bouquet!
Pick flowers with your group. Bunch them together to make bouquets. Hang them upside down in a dry and obscure location (for one to three weeks). Let children use the dried flowers for crafts. They can, for example, glue the flowers in the center of a paper plate and paint the contour with poster paint.
Use egg carton sections to make tulips. Have children paint each section a different color. Use a pipe cleaner for the stem. Plant them in foam blocks.
Sculpt flower shapes using potato halves. Hang a huge piece of paper on the wall (you may use cut paper grocery bags). Offer bright poster paint and invite children to dip the flower shapes in the paint and make prints on the paper. You can also make flowers out of doilies and glue them on the paper.
My flower vase
Give each child a drinkable yogurt container. Have them apply glue to the outside of the container and roll it in sand. Once dry, paint your container and add flowers.
Tons of flowers
(Open models-Flowers) Print. Let children cut out the flowers. Provide a wide range of arts & crafts materials they can use to decorate the flowers (tissue paper, crayons, felt, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, glitter, etc.) Deposit flowers throughout the daycare.
Provide construction paper. Children must tear pieces of paper and use them to make flower shapes. Have them glue their flowers on construction paper.
(Open models-Circles) Print. Let children cut out the circles. Give each child a paper plate and cut out two holes for the eyes. Glue the circles around the plate to make it look like a flower. Children can decorate their flower. Glue a large stick to the back of the flower to represent the stem. Children can also use the stick to hold their mask in front of their face.
The sun makes flowers grow
(Open models-Circles) Use the models to trace circles on yellow and orange construction paper. The large circle can be traced on orange paper and the smaller circle can be traced on yellow paper or vice versa. Children cut out the circles and glue the smaller circle on the larger circle. Next, they cut out strips of construction paper and glue them all the way around the circles to represent the sun's rays. When they are done, they can add a face.
(Open models-Flowers) Print several copies. Children color and decorate the flowers. Next, they must cut a strip of construction paper which fits around their head. Have them glue flowers on the strip to create a flower hat.
(Open coloring pages theme-The garden) Print for each child. (Open creative coloring-The garden) Print for each child. Invite them to draw vegetables in the garden.
SONGS & RHYMES
In my garden
by: Patricia Morrison
sung to: Bingo
I grow veggies in my garden
And eat them with my family
Veggies in my garden
The Educatall team