Bobo Gallery: Garden Theme

Showing posts with label Garden Theme. Show all posts

Lil Diva Garden Update - All Our Seeds Have Sprouted!

Our Vegetable Garden is planted (thanks to Miracle-Gro Kids Kit) and sprouts are visible! :)

If you missed my post on the Miracle-Gro Kids Mod Pots Kit <---click here. This kit was really easy, little mess and the fairly quick results with impatient/excited kids has been very welcome!

Here's our Garden update:

Day 1:

Day 3:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 12: Sweet Peppers have sprouted!

It's official - all of our seeds have sprouted & the Lil Divas are so proud! I actaully re-planted the cucumber in a larger window box because it was getting too big for the cup! This Mama is so glad that I didn't kill these plants! I have to admit that I do not have a very good track record (black thumb versus green thumb) but this kit really was foolproof even for me! :)

The Lil Divas have been amazed at the growth of their little seeds and they run downstairs every morning to check up on their lil garden! It's been a wonderful experience.

We have been reading lots of garden themed books - here a few of our favorites:

Bern

ABC Fun F is for Flower: Food, Crafts and Learning Fun

As our Flower theme comes to a close I want to share a few of the things we did we this past week that I didn't get to post.

A cute lunch made in honor of our flower theme:
PB&J sandwich in a flower shape (used a cookie cutter) and a Fruit Flower - made from strawberry slices, blueberries & mandarin orange slices

The Lil Divas worked on Do-a-Dot Letter f's courtesy of Confessions of a Homeschooler - the lil divas really like doing these.

We also worked on a Letter Ff Hunt page courtesy of Beginning Reading

Craft: Coffee Filter Flowers

What You Need:
coffee filters
watercolor paints
paintbrushes

What To Do:
1. pre-cut the coffee filters into a flower shape by folding in half until you get a small slice - then cut the 2 sides so they represent a petal shape as seen below)

2. paint flowers using watercolors

3. flowers will be very wet - be careful not to rip and let dry fully before decorating

4. After flowers have dried you can apply sequins, jewels, etc if desired

Activity: Parts of a Flower
What You Need:
tissue paper in desired color for flower
green foam (stem)
green construction paper (leaves)
brown pipe cleaners (roots)
markers
blue construction paper (background)

What To Do:
1. We made flowers using the tissue paper (a rose & sunflower)
2. we cut the brown pipe cleaner into pieces to look like roots, a stem from the green foam & leaves from the green construction paper and the lil divas assembled the flower
3. Then using word cards I had made they labeled the appropriate parts of the flower.

Seed Power - A Numbers Matching Game

What You Need:

Flower cut outs (I used a flower shaped notepad)

Number cut outs

markers

What To Do:

1. With a marker color in seeds on each flower cut out for the desired numbers you would like to use. We used 1-20 (I am reviewing 1-10 for the lil Diva and 11-20 for the Oldest)

2. To Play:

- I set out the number cards (1-20) in mixed up order and made a pile of the flowers (also mixed up)

- The Lil Divas took turns picking a flower and couting the seeds and then finding the correct number card.

It was an easy and fun way to review counting & number recognition

Hope you enjoyed our Flower/Garden Theme as much as we did! If you missed any of our activities just click the link to check out everything we did!

Bern

** linking this to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time, Get Crafty, Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday It's Playtime

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! - Planting Your Very Own Beanstalk is Fun!

No flower/garden/seed theme would be complete without experimenting with Lima Beans! They are just so much fun to watch and they quickly grow & change which is wonderful for kids to witness.

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! Here are the Books We Read:

I really like this version of the classic tale. My oldest Diva scares easily and I was worried about some of the more gruesome versions of the Giants in some of the other books. This one was perfect and I highly recommend it for kids.

This was a cute & funny story which also introduced some gardening vocabulary

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! Planting a Beanstalk Sure is FUN!

You Will Need:
lima beans (we used 5 in each baggie)
a clear platic storage bag, a clear plastic cup or a glass jar (we used a baggie)
wet paper towel

What We Did:

1. We sprayed a paper towel so that it was wet but not soaking

2. We placed the paper towel into a baggie (we folded the paper towel in half and then in half again to fit)
3. We sprayed the lima beans with water before placing them in the baggie to get them going

4. I taped the baggies to a window and we set out to observe them every day.

Day 1: the beans got noticeably larger/fuller (I did not get a picture) as they absorbed water from the napkin

Day 2: the seed swelled and burst open

Day 3: You can see the lima beans bursting open through their hard outer coating

Day 5: Roots are now clearly visible

Day 7: Leaves sprouted

This is a great experiment to do with toddlers/preschoolers because it is simple with very little maintenance - just keep towel moist - and marvel at the day to day growth! The Lil Divas had such a good time with this.

Have you and your child(ren) or students experimented with lima beans? I would love to hear about it.

Hope you enjoyed watching our beans sprout with us! We are continuing to watch them grow and the Lil Divas are curious as to what will happen.

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum! Wonder if we'll grow a beanstalk tall enough to climb towards a sky high kingdom?

Bern

** linking this to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time, Get Crafty, Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday It's Playtime

F is for Flower - How Does Water Move Through a Stem?

Experiment: Coloring a Flower

What You Need:
White Carnations ( 1 for each color you will use)
food coloring in assorted colors (we used red, blue, yellow & green)
clear plastic cups or glasses
water
scissors

What To Do:

** Hypothesis - explain what you are going to do and have your children tell you what they think will happen. The Lil Divas hypothesized that the flower's stem would change color since it was sitting in the colored water! **

1. Fill glasses 1/3 to 1/2 way with water and add enough food coloring so that the color looks deep/dark.

2. Cut the end of the flower's stem and stand flower in colored water

3. Observe leaf after 1 hr. You should see the petals becoming tinged with color

4. Observe throughout the day - you should see petals gain more and more color until you have a colored flower.

5. Discuss results of experiment with your child(ren) -
How did the white carnation change color? Why?
The stem transports water and minerals upwards from the roots through the plant. Since we colored the water we saw how it traveled through the stem upward to the petals.

The Lil Divas LOVED this experiment. They were fascinated by the changing color of the petals. The experiment really helped them see how water travels through the stem to the other parts of the plant.

*****

We also planted our flower garden today! :) Keeping my fingers crossed that we get some flowers! I have a notorious black thumb but I am hopeful that these will grow. One thing is for sure - we certainly enjoyed planting together.

Since we planted sunflowers today one of the books I read was:
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

The other book I read was:
My Garden by Kevin Henkes - this is a fun imaginative book about what a lil girl dreams would be in her ideal garden. We had fun imagining and discussing what would be in our "dream" garden - from cupcake trees to seashell and butterfly flowers. :)

*****

The Lil Divas also made letter Ff out of Flower stickers:

and practiced writing the letter Ff using a handwriting printable from First-School.ws

Hope you enjoyed our experiment, the sneak peek at our (hopefully) future flower garden, books and letter Ff activities! More to come as we continue to explore Flowers this week!

Bern

** linking this to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time, Get Crafty, Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday **

Our Very First Vegetable Garden

The Lil Divas and I are having lots of fun with our Garden Theme! :)

I must confess I was hesitant about this one. I have a black thumb - every plant and seed that has come into our home has barely survived the week. The Lil Divas were begging me for a garden but 1. we have no room and 2. as I said above I am a verified plant killer :(

Then the other day I came across the Miracle-Gro Kids Mod Pots Ready, Set, Grow Vegetable Garden Kit while shopping at Walmart! Key the symphony & lights please - I was SAVED! :)

This is a no fuss, barely a mess, easy way to begin a garden (and it was less than $10)! It is made specifically with kids in mind & quite obviously those of us with black thumbs :). They have a few different kits and I am seriously on the hunt for more because this kind of garden, I can handle (I hope)!

We will have to see in a few weeks time how it does but I really think it will work and the Lil Divas had so much fun putting it all together and are super excited to see it grow!

Here's how it worked:
Everything you need comes in the kit (except the water) - see above pic

All you have to do is prepare the soil mix by adding 3 tablespoons of water & mixing

Then you poke a hole & add a few seeds

Cover it up w/a light layer of the soil mixture, add a pick and add to the pots

It was that simple! Plus, it doesn't have to be watered everyday! The soil keeps moist & has to be watered when it appears light brown instead of dark brown!

I can totally do this! :)

I made a little "My Vegetable Garden Book" printable to go along with our garden:

We had extra seeds so we used them in the book but you couls also draw what your seeds look like.

We will keep track of when we see the first sprout and the Lil Divas will draw what it looks like and then they will draw the final result as well which will hopefully be a vegetable!

You are welcome to use our printable ---> My Vegetable Garden Book

We worked on a Fruit or Vegetable File Folder Game I found on FileFolderFun.com

and I had the Lil Divas work independently on a fruit or vegetable cut & paste sheet I found on TLSBooks.com.

We worked a bit on recognizing and writing the Letter Vv:

The Lil Divas loved this veggie sticker activity -

I found a V is for Vegetable Handwriting Sheet on First-School.ws

and we used the Letter Vv Hunt Printable from BeginningReading.com

Do-A-Dot V - from Confessions of a Homeschooler

V Word Hunt - printable made by me & you can download here --> Vv Word Hunt

I also made some foam Vv for the Lil Divas to put together like a mini puzzle (they love these)

Finally, we did a lil vegetable art! Yes, we painted/stamped with veggies and the Lil Divas got such a kick out of it! Warning - it was messy but it was fun & definitely worth the mess! :)