Flowers and Vegetable Gardening Theme #2

Flowers & Vegetable Gardening Theme #2

Did you know that June 4-10,2017 is Gardening week! So whether you love planting flowers or vegetables this is your week to get your hands in the dirt! 

Feel free to check out my previous posts on this blog for fairy reading gardens and the flowers and vegetable gardens theme #1 for more books and ideas!Happy Reading and Planting!

READ: Books

The Surprise Garden By Zoe Hall 
The Vegetables We Eat By Gail Gibbons
Growing Vegetable Soup By Lois Elhert
Mucha, Muncha, Muncha By Candance Fleming
Tops and Bottoms By Janet Stevens
From Seed to Plant By Gail Gibbons
The Tiny Seed By Eric Carle 
Zinna's Flower Garden By Monica Wellington
The Lima Bean Monster By Dan Yaccarino

CRAFT Ideas:
Plant a bean seed or flower seed in a dixie cup or outside in your garden space-- water it and make sure it gets sun! watch it grow!

Create a paper garden- see instructions at this pinterest link

No space to plant a garden- enjoy going for a nature walk using this worksheet link
or go to your local garden center and explore the flowers and vegetables there and talk about colors, sizes, of flowers and plants. Walk through a local botanical garden or aboretum in your area. 

Flower and Vegetable Gardens Theme #1

Flowers and Vegetable Gardens Theme #1

Talk about what we need for a garden? What three things do a plant, or a seed need to grow?

i.e. water, sun and dirt. 

 Books:

Dig In By Cindy Jenson Elliot

Up Down and Around By Katherine Ayres

Titch By Pat Hutchins

Little Seeds by Charles Ghigna

Up In The Garden Down in the Dirt By Kate Messner

Lola Plants a Garden  By Anna Mcquinn

Peppa Pig and the Vegetable Garden By Candlewick Press

Fran's Flower By Lisa Bruce 

We made Name Gardens for the craft-

They use the Color Flower Planter

Then Choose Flowers- whatever size, 1 for each letter of their name

Let the parent show them how to use the kid scissors and have them cut them apart and glue them onto their planter

They can then use markers or crayons and write a letter on each flower for his name

 You can also plant seeds using potting soil, the little small cups (dixie) or the seed starter kind have the kids help you or plant directly into pots at home! Here are few examples of pots I planted at my house! water and make sure you place them in an area with sunlight.

Fairy Reading Garden and resources for creating one

Fairy Reading Garden

I am following a trend that is taken off over the last few years! I have created my own Fairy reading garden in my front yard-- I have been working on it a while but it is a creative and fun project for me.

There are many books out there about fairy's and fairy gardens-- to browse through- my advice be careful how quickly you get into it! This is a hobby although it may be fun it can also get expensive really quick. Look for sales and start out slow adding a piece whenever time or budget allows. Take your time, decide on a theme and enjoy every minute of it!
 There are lots of great resources to get started- library research (see below examples of books) for supplies--There are also many local and online resources amazon, etsy, local garden centers, even michaels.

Check your local library for books about fairies and fairy gardens!Here are a couple examples..

Fairy Hill: May and the Music Show By Cari Meister (Scholastic Level 1 Reader)

Here are pictures from my fairy reading garden at home!