Do you want to learn and play at the same time? The Flower Garden Sensory Kit features kinetic sand, rainbow colored flowers, black beans as seeds and three miniature wooden containers and is perfect for acting out the growth stages in a flower garden. Learn about flowers, seeds and gardens with these great books.
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Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson
This adorable book is interactive, whimsical and educational. It is great for younger kids on your lap to interact with each page - following the directions to tap the seed, wiggle their fingers to water, and rub the sun to make it hot. It captures the magic of reading and of watching nature unfold. You will see how a zinnia goes from a seed to a flower in the pages of this book. It’s available in hardcover, paperback and board book options.
Kit Connections:
- Sitting at a table, read each page and let your child follow the actions with the sensory kit - tapping the seeds, wiggling fingers to water, and clapping for the sun. Ask them to tell you the order of events in the story. Give guidance and support as appropriate for their age.
- Use the beans and kinetic sand to plant all the “seeds” and make your own flower garden, clean up and repeat to your heart’s content.
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
This colorful book has beautiful artwork and color coded staggered pages great for teaching colors to younger kids. Planting a Rainbow follows a girl and her mom who plant a rainbow of flowers every year. They plant bulbs in the fall and seeds in the spring. It’s perfect as a board book with its staggered pages that form a rainbow.
Kit Connections:
- Make a rainbow flower garden with your Flower Garden Sensory Kit. Put the flowers in order to match the colored pages. Talk about what is the same and different between the flowers in the book and the flowers in the kit.
- Make labels for the seeds with the wooden craft sticks and act out waiting and watering the seeds. Then create your garden in full bloom by sticking all the flowers in the sand or the wooden containers and pots.
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
This book presents all the information you could want about how seeds turn into plants. Through beautifully accurate illustrations, labels, and text you will learn about the flowers’ parts, how pollination works, how seeds are dispersed, and the variety and interconnectedness of nature. While the information is most appropriate for middle elementary, younger kids can grasp the concepts from the pictures and you can summarize pages as needed. I love Gail Gibbons books because they clearly present information simply and clearly. From Seed to Plant is available in paperback.
Kit Connections:
- Using the information from the book and the items in the Flower Garden Sensory Kit, teach a sibling 3-5 facts about plants. Or, create a short book or poster to share what you have learned.
