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Plant Your Own Seeds


This week we celebrate Earth Day! Planting seeds and watching them grow either inside or outside is a wonderful way to celebrate spring with your children and help them discover the delight of nurturing a plant and the excitement of seeing it blossom.  Children will love watching their plants grow into beautiful flowers, fruits, or vegetables.  Planting seeds and then reading about how plants grow is the perfect early science/early literacy activity to expand your child’s vocabulary and encourage their curiosity.

Watering Plant with Sarah Watering Plant

 

 

You Will Need:

  • Paper or Styrofoam cups
  • Potting soil
  • Seeds
  • Markers & crayons

Directions:

  1. Have your child decorate their paper cup with markers or crayons to make it bright and colorful.
  2. Assist your child in filling up his or her cup with soil.
  3. Show your child how to poke a hole in the soil to bury the seeds.
  4. Have your child place two or three seeds into the hole and cover it back up with dirt.
  5. Help your child add a small amount of water to the cup (enough to make the soil moist)
  6. Place the plant where it will get lots of sun so that it grows big and tall!
  7. When the plant gets too big for the cup, you can transfer it to a larger container, coffee cans are great, or move it outside if you have an outdoor space to plant in.

Remember:

Gardening with your child is a great chance to be creative!  Try growing interesting plants, such as sunflowers, herbs, or spring vegetables.  Promote learning along the way by teaching your child how water and sunshine will help their plants to grow taller!  Happy Spring!

 

Read these books together after planting your seeds!

 
 

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This classic first published in 1945 teaches both the patience and technique of planting a seed and helping it grow.

 

 download
A family saves Steve the tree from builders, and then Steve helps them in return.
 

download

Biscuit the dog helps take care of the Earth!

 

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Little Critter wants to do his part to save the world by reducing, reusing, and recycling!

 

download

This eco-friendly picture book explores the subjects of conservation and environmental protection.

 

download down

Explore vegetable gardening for the very young with this classic book.

 

download

Explore the life of a flower through the perspective of a tiny seed.

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