If you haven’t figured out by now, I am a FIRM believer in getting kids in the garden to learn and grow. I would also admit that I am a book addict. My Master’s degree is Reading Education K-12, so you know I’m a fan of reading with and to kids! In fact, we have thousands of children books in our home. I am trying to be better at whittling down our book stash so our home library doesn’t get too overwhelming, but then I find another one to add to our collection. Our local school library loves me because I donate over 500 books to them each year! Luckily, my 3 kids (ages 1, 4, and 7) are also addicted to books. We do not own a television and so the kids read often, especially when I am busy cooking dinner! For me books = sanity.
When building a collection of books for kids with a gardening theme, you do NOT need a ton of books. I have a bunch because I enjoy them immensely, but I also make use of our library and check many out from there as well.
When building a collection of books for kids with a gardening theme, you do NOT need a ton of books. I have a bunch because I enjoy them immensely, but I also make use of our library and check many out from there as well.
How to Build a Thematic Book Set
In this article, I will explain how I would make a garden theme “love books basket” for our garden unit. This gets kids reading for depth and breadth on a particular topic and encourages them to explore reading for a variety of purposes. I like to display them in a basket and read them for about a month before rotating to the next theme. You can also make a collection and then loan the collection to a trusted friend for a month too. Then your hard work curating the set can be used by more than one family!
Choose 1-2 “how-to” or “activity” books such as the ones pictured below.
I’ve linked each of these up to our Amazon Affiliate account just in case you decide you want to purchase one. All Opinions are written on my own.
Add in 4-7 Fiction Stories
And toss in a bunch of non-fiction text. At least 5 (in my opinion)
Then snuggle in and read with your little ones! Talk about what you are reading, then head outside to the garden!
For more kids in the garden articles, stop by here. Or visit one of these related articles:
Getting Started in 3 Easy Steps by Birute Efe
Cultivating Enthusiasm for Gardening All Season Long by Matthew Hiemstra
I know I have missed a ton of GREAT gardening books for young readers 0-7.
Which book would you add to your gardening book collection?
Great book list! So many of our favorites on the list!
What a fabulous collection of garden books. I love how you separated by fiction and non-fiction. We also love Butterfly Butterfly by Petr Horacek – the pop-out butterfly is so cool.
http://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Book-Colors-Petr-Horacek/dp/0763633437/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395154161&sr=1-1&keywords=butterfly%2C+petr