A garden is defined as a piece of ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables, or a rich, well-cultivated spot or tract of country. Gardens come in many forms and fashions. Many lessons can be learned in the garden, so roll up your sleeves and get ready to “play in the dirt….” it’s time for a Garden Unit Study.

A special thank you to Donna Sweet, a 24 year (YEP, I said 24 year!) veteran homeschooler who provided me with several fabulous links for this study. They helped make this study complete.

 

 

The Bible has many wonderful references to gardens and makes a wonderful place to start a Unit Study on gardens. The story begins in a garden after all…..

“The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden.”
Genesis 2:8

“I made the gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them all kinds of fruit.” Ecclesiastes 2:5

Some time spent on Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane, John 18:1

Another way to incorporate the Bible into our Unit Study is to discuss weeds in the garden and how our sins are much like weeds. Just as we “weed” the garden to keep it beautiful, we must “weed” ourselves of sin to be more like Christ.

 

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Secret Garden, a free Unit Study Guide

There are many books on Gardening with children, here are some wonderful ones:

Sunflower Houses, Sharon Lovejoy

Garden Fairy Alphabet, a coloring book, Darcy May

In the Garden, J.C. Greenburg

Jack’s Garden, Henry Cole

Magical Garden of Claude Monet, (great also for Art), Laurence Anholt

Green Thumbs, Laurie Carlson

Jr. Garden Book, Better Homes and Gardens

In the Garden, Gallimard

Gardening Wizardry for Kids, Yvette Banek

Kid’s Garden

National Association of Gardening/Kid’s Gardens

 

Planning out a garden requires math. It’s a great way to practice the practical application of the calculations for area and perimeter.

area = base X height

perimeter = length + length+height+height

If you are planting a garden, follow the directions for the recommendations on distance apart and depth of seed planting. Have the students do the measuring.

As plants begin to grow, measure weekly. Chart the growth on a line graph. Have students calculate how long it took from planting until maturation.

 

GEOGRAPHY:

Look at the planting zones for your area and find out which plants thrive! Explore other regions and parts of the world to see what plants do well there. The U.S. National Arboretum offers a chart on the hardiness zones.

This is a great time to look at famous Gardens of the World. Here is a very complete list( from all around the world)

Have students choose one or several to research the type of garden and locate them on a map.

 

ART:

Garden Stones are a great way to decorate your garden and they make a wonderful gift for a favorite gardener. Ideas are here

Create a Felt Garden (templates here)

An idea for a kid’s garden mural is here

SCIENCE:

George Washington Carver is a wonderful scientist to focus on in this unit. His Godly life and devotion to botany and gardening make him not only a wonderful scientist, but an excellent example of a man who used biblical principles to do God’s will in his life. (see printables for some George Washington Carver crossword and coloring sheets)

Garden of Praise offers a wonderful biography on Mr. Carver with many links as well.

A printable George Washington Carver book, offered by teacher vision is a nice way for younger students (k-3) to learn about Mr. Carver’s life.

Children often find Venus Fly traps interesting and amazing, here is a wonderful site on how they work.

Here’s a good site on making Sprouts:

This is a great time to talk about photosynthesis, Brain Pop offers a great place to start

Another great photosynthesis spot is here

It’s also a great time to talk about the life cycle and decomposers in the garden.

EARTH DAY is April 22, 2008, click here for Earth Day ideas

Here is a step by step guide to starting a garden

Another site from the UK is Science and Plants for Schools. It contains some great information for primary and secondary grades.

Garden Organic, another site from across the Ocean is FABULOUS. They offer in the Teaching Zone, a variety of “How to” leaflets with information and coloring sheet on everything from composting, mulching to gardening with vegetables. Definitely one to check out, if only for the coloring sheets.

MISC.

If you are looking for supplementary lesson plans, the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom offers an extensive site. It includes lesson plans for k-12, downloadable books in PDF form, and a children’s site with word games and coloring. Downloadable books such as Edible Numbers, From Farm to Fork, and Fruits and Vegetables for Health are offered for free. This is a site to “bookmark” for use with other science topics.

A site out of the UK offering many articles and activities for children is called, The kids garden is a wonderful resource to anyone gardening with children.

Curr Click is offering a gardening unit study, (this is a purchase study, but it is reasonable!)It is from the Homeschool Learning Network.

Get Quacked is offering a free unit study on plants

 

Gardening with Kids store is here

Amanda Bennett offers a Garden Unit Study for purchase here.

In case you missed Lisa’s post at Heart of the Matter on March 24, 2008, it’s got some great ideas!

The following sites were suggested by Christina. They are all about the “creatures” you’ll find in your garden!

The Butterfly Site

The Butterfly Farm

The Oklahoma Bees

FIELD TRIPS:

Most large cities offer Botanical Gardens, as do many Universities. These make wonderful day trips while studying gardens. Making a scrapbook or mini~book with digital pictures taken at a garden can be a great way to add a fun project to the study.

If you live in the Massachusetts, check out the Dirty Dozen Club, their web site provides a schedule of upcoming garden events in the area.

If you are near North Carolina,

The Biltmore Estate’s Festival of Flowers runs from April 5 – May 18, 2008

COMPUTER LINKS:

(As always with web sites, explore them first to insure that they are right for your family.)

A neat site for kids to explore is Kids Valley Garden

There is a host of things for kids to explore on plants, herbs, vegetables and flowers.

Thinkquest offers a nice site on plants for children

Kids Garden, FABULOUS garden site submitted by Bunny

Family Fun Magazine offers a great article on gardening with children

Smith College Botanic Garden has a great site on gardening

Aggie Horticulture offers a great kids site on gardening

The wonderful world of insects, no garden is complete without these little creatures

I can garden, kids page, here you will find lots of child friendly articles on gardens

Kinder Garden, a fun link for younger children with a kids fun page.

The Great Plant Escape, a site by the University of Illinois

A host of online Garden Games can be found here, offered by surfnetkids.com

 

This site offers a really nice coloring book about George Washington Carver, an addition to the science suggestions, they are printable.
(coloring pages and crossword puzzles)

Printable garden book for young students

Printable tags for your garden vegetables

Printable chart for plant watering

Gardening Coloring Pages

As mentioned above in the Science section, check out Garden Organics, Teaching Zone for some great printable sheets.

 

I hope you all ha
ve FUN, playing in the “dirt!”