I have some fun tips on how to plan an easy gardening unit study. You’ll love more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies and Easy Seeds and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle – Upper Elementary) pages.
My favorite place to start with a unit study is with fun hands-on activities.
Besides, getting their hands dirty, in this case literally, is a wonderful way to make sure that the information sticks.
Second, books are also a great learning tool and go hand in hand with more involved activities.
I have gathered up for you plenty of gardening unit study ideas.
From books to manipulatives, and videos to hands- on activities, there is plenty to give you a start.
6 Things Your Kids Learn Through Gardening
Additionally, there is so much that your child learns through gardening.
Look at what your child learns by researching about gardens.
1. Preparing soil
2. Sketching beds
3. Weeding
4. Harvesting
5. Preparing the harvest
6. Eating the harvest
There is science, math, history, reading, and many life lessons bundled into what seems to be an ordinary task.
While I am all for hands-on activities which allow kids to dig into the topic (literally in the case of gardening) sometimes you need a break from the heat.
Whether it’s raining or for a change of pace, games keep your kids learning.
Games About Gardening
Games help teach reading skills, following directions, strategy, cooperation, strengthen working memory, math, and so much more.
Next, look at some fun gardening games I rounded up.
Gardening Unit Study Games
Grab one or more of these fun gardening games to change the pace or to reinforce the concepts your kids are learning.
Test your green thumb in this great plant growing game
Use resource cards to ensure your plants are given the proper food
Who's home will be best deocrated with houseplants?
Easy to carry; Ideal for spontaneous game sessions
Light strategy game for 2 to 4 people
You will have until sunset to grow as many strawberry plants as you can before the sunset
HELP kids grow color recognition, matching, and early counting skills with this garden themed sorting set.
Fill bushel baskets with figures representing veggies, from corn and broccoli to onions and pumpkins
Playmat with farm signs includes images of essential colors and shapes
Cottage Garden is based on the game Patchwork, but adds much additional game play and a wider range of player count.
The illustrations are identical and beautifully colored with bright colour and cute animals. This memory matching game can help children develop early cognitive ability, attention, observation, problem solving skills, hand-eye-brain coordination & logical thinking.
EASY TO PLAY: Players must use critical thinking to collect the ingredients for their guacamole recipes.
FAMILY FUN: This lively family card game is perfect for kids to spice up their day or for contemplative adults.
SCREEN-FREE FUN: For over 25 years, eeBoo has created wholesome, educational games and activities that cultivate conversation, socialization, and skill-building while introducing our world.
Books and Curriculum for Garden Unit Study
Moreover, you can totally create your own unit study about gardens from scratch using a few books l list below.
But if you want a little help and maybe you also want to learn alongside your child, I can’t recommend the Do-It-Yourself Garden Research Handbook by The Thinking Tree enough.
The Garden Research Handbook is full of graphs for your child to plan their own garden, terms to research and words to define, good bugs vs. bad bugs, garden types, soil quality.
It is meant to be used as a workbook textbook.
However, while it does offer some structure and specific assignments it is still very open ended.
It leaves plenty of room for creative outlet through drawing and coloring as well.
I think that the Garden Research Handbook would be fantastic for unschoolers or those that love unit studies.
Why?
Because it puts the responsibility in your child’s hands and that gives you a break as well as helping your child retain more information.
My favorite part about the book is that it covers so much information and makes a fantastic keepsake.
You can turn your book in as part of your portfolio if you have to use one at the end of each year for your homeschooler.
Next, look at some of these other books to add to your unit study which I found helpful.
11 Gardening With Kids Books & Fun Resources
As a true bibliophile no unit study would be complete without a strong list of books to support a topic. Here is a great list for everyone in the family.
Learn the difference between a farrow and a barrow, and what distinguishes a weanling from a yearling. Country and city mice alike will delight in Julia Rothman’s charming illustrated guide to the curious parts and pieces of rural living. Dissecting everything from the shapes of squash varieties to how a barn is constructed and what makes up a beehive to crop rotation patterns, Rothman gives a richly entertaining tour of the quirky details of country life.
Packed with garden-based activities that promote science, math, reading, writing, imaginative play, and arts and crafts, The Garden Classroom offers a whole year of outdoor play and learning ideas—however big or small your garden.
Explore the secret realm beneath the dirt that brings the world of nature to life: Follow a young girl and her grandmother on a journey through the year planning, planting, and harvesting their garden—and learn about what's happening in the dirt to help make it all happen.Up in the garden, the world is full of green—leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt exists a busy world—earthworms dig, snakes hunt, skunks burrow—populated by all the creatures that make a garden their home
A refreshing source of ideas to help your children learn to grow their own patch of earth, Gardening Lab for Kids encourages children to get outside and enjoy nature. This fun and creative book features 52 plant-related activities set into weekly lessons, beginning with learning to read maps to find your heat zone, moving through seeds, soil, composting, and then creating garden art and appreciating your natural surroundings.
Whether inside or outside, decorative or edible, this book is full of gardening projects large and small. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions are accompanied by photographs that guide the aspiring gardening through planting all kinds of gardens.
MONTESSORI FOR TODDLERS: Our gardening tool set encourages kids to play outside & learn about plants, nature & sustainability. Perfect for the yard and sand box.
OUTDOOR LEARNING ACTIVITIES: Our Kids Garden Set is great for Occupational Therapy & Developing Fine Motor Skills. Suitable for Boys and girls.
A Gardening Research Workbook & Planning Guide for Teens, Kids and Families! Perfect for Homeschooling Science, Nature Study, Botany and Home Economics!
Designed for teens, but perfect for Ages 9+ (Younger students will need some extra help).
{Raised Garden Bed for Kids} We designed the children raised garden bed carefully, so that your children can feel the happiness of plant growth and the magic of natural life. Our raised garden bed deep enough to provide your plants and vegetables with ample room to breathe and grow healthy.
Flowers, trees, fruits—plants are all around us, but where do they come from? With simple language and bright illustrations, non-fiction master Gail Gibbons introduces young readers to the processes of pollination, seed formation, and germination. Important vocabulary is reinforced with accessible explanation and colorful, clear diagrams showing the parts of plants, the wide variety of seeds, and how they grow. The book includes instructions for a seed-growing project, and a page of interesting facts about plants, seeds, and flowers. A nonfiction classic, and a perfect companion for early science lessons and curious young gardeners.
Kids see plants, flowers, and trees around them every day. In this lively and educational reader, they'll learn how those plants grow. Kids will take this magical journey from seed pollination to plant growth, learning about what plants need to thrive and grow with the same careful text, brilliant photographs, and the fun approach National Geographic Readers are known for.
An easy and fun introduction to plant biology! With the able assistance of Thing 1 and Thing 2 - the Cat in the Hat explores the world of plants. Kids will learn about the various parts of plants, seeds, and flowers; basic photosynthesis and pollination; and seed dispersal.
Hands-on Gardening Activities
Now to get our hands dirty.
Besides the obvious, starting seeds and planting a garden there are so many wonderful activities that can reinforce and teach all things gardening.
- You can Plan A Garden With LEGO.
- Include my Seed and Gardening Unit Study along with the book
- Gardening Projects For Homeschool Easy Composting With the Amazing Dr. George Carver (Free Printable About Compost
- Kinder Gardening to Celebrate Nature and Science
- Hands-on Ancient Babylon: Hanging Gardens Fun Activity
Also, add this graph paper gardening planning.
Graph Paper Garden Planning
One activity I like to start with in gardening is drawing the bed.
Whether you are planting directly in the soil, in a raised bed, or container it’s a good idea to know what is going where.
Too, research what plants work well next to each other, which ones don’t, and how much space each bed needs.
I also use the graph paper to help them create pages to put together a logbook for watering and other garden details.
With these simple activities your child is already working on math, planning, research, and basic life skills of gardening.
You need:
- Graph paper
- Colored pencils
The first thing you want to do is decide how large your space is and outline that on your graph paper.
An 1×1” graph paper is perfect for this. Use each square to represent 1 square foot of space in your garden.
Let them go crazy drawing the items they intend to plant in each box.
In addition, extend this activity by also have your kids log the dates that seeds were started, plants, planted, the first harvested item, etc.
Also, another way to use graph paper is to create a calendar for watering to help your child remember to water every day.
They can color in the square completely or draw in a raindrop to log watering days.
How to Plan an Easy Garden for Kids
Now you are ready to gather up some supplies to start things that you will start from seeds.
You can find seeds, gardening tools. soil, and seed starting trays at Dollar Tree to keep your costs way down.
I have had great success with their gardening items
If this is your first-time gardening, you might want to start with some easier things to grow.
Finally, use those that mature quickly so your child does not become discouraged (which can also be a valuable lesson).
Here are some tried and true favorites.
- Radishes
- Sunflowers
- Snap peas
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Parsley
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Squash
Actually, some libraries also have a free seed library for patrons to get packets of different seeds.
What a great low-cost option. Look at the some of the packets we have picked up.
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