• Reading
  • Writing
  • Math
  • Science
  • Gardening
  • Recipes
  • Cultural

The Educators' Spin On It

Learning Games and Activities

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact

By Amanda Boyarshinov 2 Comments

Kids Garden Reading Activities

There are so many wonderful connections between reading and gardening. Sound surprising?  Our guest writer, Jacquie Fisher, founder of Edventures with Kids , shares with us ways she connects the two.  Not only is she an AMAZING recourse for things to do in Kansas City, she is a world culture, book loving, get your hands messy kind of mom who shares her adventures on her blog highlighting hands on experiences to support parents! ~Amanda
Fun and Simple reading activities to do with your child in the garden

 

Kids Garden Reading Activities

By Jacquie Fisher

One of our favorite things about Spring is starting our garden each year!  Gardening is a family affair at our home – the kids always choose a few plants to grow in addition to our stand-by favorites.  One thing I’ve learned over the last 12 years of gardening with the kids is that there are some wonderful ways to connect reading with all that digging in the dirt.

Choosing Your Plants

Believe it or not, our first trip is not to the garden store.  Instead we head to the library.  The kids really enjoy checking out books about plants and gardens.  Some of our favorite garden reads that can be found in the kid’s section of your local library include:

(We’ve linked each of these up to our Amazon Affiliate account just in case you decide you want to purchase one. We could receive a small portion of the sale in return to help support The Educators Spin On It.  All Opinions are written our own.)

  • Grow Your Own Pizza: Gardening Plans and Recipes for Kids by Constance Hardesty
  • Kids Garden!: The Anytime, Anyplace Guide to Sowing & Growing Fun (Williamson Kids Can! Series) & Growing Fun by Avery Hart
  • Dinner from Dirt: Ten Meals Kids Can Grow & Cook & Cook by Emily Scott

After a few garden-themed story sessions, we usually have a nice list of the plants we’d like to get when we hit the garden store.

Did you catch that word ‘list’?

This is where I conveniently get the kids to practicing their writing skills.  They write the names of the plants we found in our books on their own list.  It’s a great reading tool once we get to the garden store.

Reading at the Garden Store

When they were younger, they used the list to match their plant names to the seed packets.  Begin with having them search for the first letter of their plant on each of the seed packets.  The nice thing about seed packets is they usually include a picture of the plant.  Pictures are really nice reading helpers and can boost a child’s confidence in finding the correct seeds.

As the kids advanced in their reading, I would ask them to give me the list while they were looking for seed packets to see if they were able to sound out some of the various plant names.

reading seed packets with kids, literacy in the garden

 

Creating Garden Markers

With our seeds in hand, we head home to decide what we will use for garden markers this year.  It’s always different for each garden – sometimes we decorate popsicle sticks with glitter markers.  On other years, we’ve used the seed packets to make markers.

painting seed markers

This year, we decided to go colorful and make mini-pot markers for our plants!  We found some small clay pots and used acrylic paint to decorate the pots.  To use pots as garden markers, they will sit upside-down in the garden.  Once the pots were dry, we used our seed packets to copy the name of our plants on the rim of each of the pots.

labels for the garden

 

Reading in the Garden

You can carry reading into the garden as well.  If you read the back of the seed packets, they will explain how far apart to plant each seed, how frequently to water the plant, how much sun the plant will need and more details about carrying for your plants.

And be sure to show the kids the information on ‘maturity’ – each packet will give you an approximate number of growing days for the plant.  Let the kids compare how long it takes to grow the plants you chose and then have them count the days on the calendar so they can keep track of the plant’s growth.

It’s also fun to read to your plants!  Did you know that plants will grow faster if you talk to them?!  Research studies have shown that plants respond to sound and human voices.  So grab a favorite garden book and invite your plants to story time!  Try a few of these garden-themed books:

(We’ve linked each of these up to our Amazon Affiliate account just in case you decide you want to purchase one. We could receive a small portion of the sale in return to help support The Educators Spin On It.  All Opinions are written our own.)

  • The Gardener by Sarah Stewart
  • The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
  • The Carrot Seed 60th Anniversary Edition by Ruth Krauss
  • Little Critter: A Green, Green Garden (My First I Can Read) by Mercer Mayer

How do you bring reading into your garden?

Jacquie Fisher is the founder of Edventures with Kids , a blog that shares unique ideas for keeping kids creative & curious. She believes that kids are more likely to enjoy learning when they are offered hands-on activities and the opportunity to explore new places. ‘Edventures’ encourage families to try new activities, get outdoors, travel together and connect kids with great books. You can also find her on Facebook , Google+, Twitter and Pinterest.

You may also enjoy these garden themed articles by Jacquie:

 30 Garden Activities for Kids
50 Ways to Enjoy the Outdoors in the Spring
Garden Books for Kids

 

    

 

Join in our Kids in the Garden; Learning and Growing FUN by sharing pictures of your family gardening on your favorite social media site. Use the hashtag #plantaseed to connect with other like-minded, garden loving people!
 
Community Gardens by Amandine Hom
Homesteading by Vanessa Vargas Wilson
Preschool Gardens by Dayna

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Gardening, Reading Tagged With: Kids in the Garden, Plant a Seed, reading activities

About Amanda Boyarshinov

K - 12 masters reading teacher, author and mom to 3. Amanda is a National Board Certified teacher with oodles of experience in early childhood education.

« Garden Science: Learning about Bees in the Garden
St. Patrick’s Day Activities »

Comments

  1. Growing Book by Book says

    March 16, 2014 at 6:27 am

    Love the book ideas that Jacquie shared. I think we might try the mini painted pot markers this year. Super cute! Plus, they get to pain which my little ones enjoy so much!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up for our Newsletter!

For ages…

Baby
Toddler
Preschool
Grade School

Find a Kid’s Activity

Popular Posts

Child working at table with white bookcase behind with toys
winter virtual field trips for kids featuring sledding, snow covered mountains and evergreen trees and ice castles

You Might Also Like

Family using books and technology to cope with changes during social distancing

Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19

indoor play activities for cold winter days

Indoor Play Activities; Winter Learning Activities and Crafts

Indoor Movement Games and Activities for Kids

101 Valentine's Day for Kids

101+ Valentine’s Day Activities for Play and Learning

How to Make Easy Heart Shaped Pancakes with Kids

Let’s Connect!

Kim Vij

Early childhood teacher, author, speaker and mom of 3. Kim Vij shares ways to make learning fun and parenting an adventure by sharing developmentally appropriate activities.
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021