Resources / Activity
Talk about how to create a garden. Plan whether to have an indoor or outdoor garden and what the children would like to grow.
Create a small flower garden with perennials and annuals for the children to care for during outside play. Use child-size watering cans or pitchers for watering plants. Write the children's names on craft sticks to place beside their plant.
Plant a small outdoor garden with fast growing items such as greenbeans, marigolds, pansies and morning glories during outdoor time. Remind the children to tend the garden daily and photograph growth weekly.
Bring a pineapple into the classroom and ask the children who of them has tried pineapple? Cut off the top of the pineapple and put it in a shallow tray with water.
Teach an Earth Day Song to the tune of“Mary Had A Little Lamb”:Plant a seed and you will see,you will see, you will see,plant a seed and you will seewhat a beautiful world it can
Provide small cups, soil and seeds for the children to independently plant in the science center. Lima beans or pumpkin seeds grow very quickly. Place in windows for observation. Provide paper with a picture of an empty flower pot.
Make seeds, soils and containers available in the science center. Encourage the children to plant the seeds and record the sequence of events.
Create or find pictures of the lifecycle of plants. Provide a magnetic board and place small magnet dots on the back of the cards. The children in the math center can place the cards in order and dictate why they chose the order of the cards.
Show the children pictures in a book, such as Flowers by Vijaya Bodach. Add sterile potting soil, shovels and small plastic pots to a sand table or tub. Encourage the children to practice filling and emptying pots.
Discuss flowers and what they need to grow. Dictate what the children think plants need. Plant a “class plant” and ensure that the class has the opportunity to give the plant everything it needs.
You will need small flower pots, play dough, number cubes and artificial flowers. Give each child a pot with play dough to act as a base for the flowers. Give 12 flowers to each child.
Change up this game by having two children roll a die, plant that number of flowers and figure out how many flowers they have in total.
Purchase plaster of paris or make your own using two parts white glue to one part warm water. Encourage children to make hand prints, footprints or globes molded on balloons.
Read The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches. Prepare picture props for the children to use in retelling the story and put them in sequence on a bulletin board or clothesline to show the cycle of a plastic bottle.
Obtain a variety of smooth plastic cards, such as key cards from hotels or customer loyalty cards. Clean and disinfect them.
Cut three or four egg cartons in half so they have six compartments. Have the children paint the egg cartons to match a collection of plastic eggs. Once the cartons are fully dry, place them in the sensory table along with the plastic eggs.
Support an older infant in a standing position. From behind, wrap your arms around him/her just under the arms. Place a ball at the infant's feet and show how to kick the ball.
Read Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen. Give each child a ball of play dough and a small bowl of water. Have the children mold their ball into a boat shape and determine if their boat will sink or float.
Use play dough and craft sticks to build replicas of the local community in the art center.
