We had activities planned for this morning. Sometimes you have to scrap it& let your child take the lead.
Our older son woke up asking about seeds. Obviously dreaming about the plant life cycle, right?
My husband cut up apples as part of his breakfast. Our son was enthralled with the seeds. He saw the remnants of a lemon on the counter. He asked about the seeds. Then he scurried over to his reading corner to find his ‘how seeds grow’ books. Almost simultaneously I saw a pin on Pinterest that led me to a gorgeous FREE Plant Life Cycle printable. Voila!
I fired up my printer, gathered my son & the books and we were off with our morning activity.
Normally I would have printed color on card stock, then laminated the cards. Today, I seized the moment.
We put the steps within the life cycle in order.
Then we used books to match the steps as we read along.
We used three wonderful books to guide us through this exercise.
“Oh Say Can You Seed” by Bonnie Worth is written in fun and rhythmic verse. We love the Cat in the Hat Learning Series and this book exploring seed to plant did not disappoint. Thing 2 and Thing 2 along with a young boy and girl take us through the basics of flowering plants, they even take us underground to burrow in the ground like a mole to examine different kinds of roots.
“From Seed to Plant” by Gail Gibbons is simple and effective in teaching kids about what can be complicated topics such as pollination, germination, and plant reproduction. We really enjoyed the illustrations but some critics say that not all are true to the plant and make recognizing some plants difficult. We enjoyed them.
“How A Seed Grows” by Helene Jordan is a wonderful introduction to the Plant Life Cycle. We appreciated the illustrations of the varieties of seeds and the simple approach to describing how a seed becomes a plant. Our favorite part is the activity embedded in the book. A really simple activity for first time little gardeners that is sure to capture them for a lifetime.
Thank you for choosing to visit our blog today. Come back soon.
~ Marnie
Source of the life cycle image and printable activity: Amsel, Sheri. “Plant Activities.” Plant Life Cycle Activity (K-3). Exploring Nature Educational Resource. © 2005 – 2012. April 16, 2012.