Plants and Spring Interactive Lesson Plan

Preschool and Toddler Math and Reading Activities

Feb 19, 2009

Children discover the growth and needs of plants while developing science and math skills.

Bloom into Spring with this interactive lesson plan about plants, their parts, and all the different kinds. Introduce this unit by decorating your classroom with these Spring Bulletin Board ideas, reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle [Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2001] in Circle Time, and inspiring your preschoolers imagination with plant themed art and literacy activities.

Plant Science Lesson Ideas

Start this popular Spring thematic unit by having several different things on display: a leafy carrot, a bowl of dirt, some yarn, a pen, a house plant, a potato, a cup and a flowering plant. Explain that some are plants and some are not. Plants grow, so are living things, but cannot move around by themselves.

Have your preschoolers name the items and point out which ones they think are plants. Ask how they knows that something grows? Have them sort the living things (plants) in a group. Have plenty of books and pictures of other types of plants for the children to reference. A poster with the life cycle of a plant is also a great visual.

Introduce hypothesis with this seed-to-plant lesson activity. Use the following vocabulary words and if possible, a poster or pictures that diagrams these parts.

Have a few glass mason jars and a few different beans to "plant". Place a damp paper towel in the jar along with the bean. Set the jars where they get plenty of sunlight and be sure to have your preschooler(s) take turns watering it each day with a spray bottle. When the bean starts to grow, point out the different parts that are visible through the glass jar.

Have your preschooler(s) bring a part of an edible plant to talk about and discuss.

Plant Math Lesson Ideas

Talk with your preschooler(s) about where plants come from, ask open ended questions, you'll be surprised by the answers you'll get! You can use a bag of mixed beans and/or some seed packets of different varieties of plants. Encourage your toddler(s) or preschooler(s) to sort by shape, size, and color. Further this activity and buy a pair of different seed packets, empty, and laminate. Use the laminated packets for a concentration game.

For sensory tables, dump all of the mixed beans in and provide spoons, measuring cups, and other manipulatives for your preschooler(s) to explore.

This simple spring file folder game needs 5 to 6 different sized stemmed flowers. Decorate the inside of the folder with a patch of leaves for each flower and explain to your preschooler(s) to arrange the flowers from biggest to smallest, or shortest to tallest, or vice versa. Further this activity by having your preschooler(s) name the various parts of the plant (root, stem, leaf, flower, seed).

Track the growth of your class plant (activity below) daily. Talk about the weather and the needs of plants (sun and water). You can even use your circle time weather chart with this activity to explain how weather effects the growth of plants. At the beginning of each week have preschoolers draw what they think the plant will look like by the end of the week.

At the beginning of the plant lesson plan, use a poster board to chart the different answers of your preschooler. Ask what he thinks a plant needs to grow, and offer different possibilities: dirt, cake, water, bugs, sun, gas, moon, wind, cheese . . . have fun with it! Graph the answers and display on the wall.

Invite a guest speaker from a local nursery or greenhouse and/or plan a field trip to your local Botanical Gardens. Have a nature walk and talk about all the different kinds of plants you can find.

Visit First School for more fun, educational ideas to introduce plants and flowers to toddlers and preschoolers. For more in depth free material on the plant unit study, visit Quacked.

Grasping science and math concepts isn't the only skill a preschooler will further develop with this lesson plan. Teaching children about the life cycle of plants helps them better understand growth, changes, life and death, as well as embodying a sense of compassion in learning to care and nurture, building and developing life skills to follow them into adulthood.

The copyright of the article Plants and Spring Interactive Lesson Plan in Kids Educational Activities is owned by ChristaCarol Jones. Permission to republish Plants and Spring Interactive Lesson Plan in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.