Spring FINALLY arrived where we live this week.  The kiddos can't get enough of it.  

For over a month they've been talking about planting a vegetable garden, adding flowers to our flower garden, and more.  

It's the perfect time of year to map out garden plans, especially with Earth Day just around the corner.  

I don't know about you, but Earth Day is one of my favorite holidays.  

The Earth is such a beautiful place to live.  It's so wonderful to have a special day to celebrate it.  

Whether you have a little one who's just learning what the Earth is, or kiddos who are capable of learning more, I hope you take the opportunity to celebrate such a special day!

This year we're celebrating Earth Day by dedicating time to planning and preparing for our vegetable garden.  Check out our fabulous Earth Day Vegetable Garden Unit with Free Printables!

Earth Day Vegetable Garden Unit with Free Printables

We kicked off the week with a family night dedicated to teaching our kiddos the importance of having a garden.  

I don't think I've ever seen a set of kiddos so excited to plant a garden.  

Every day they come up with new questions and concerns for me to find answers to.  Some of the activities in this unit are a result of some of those questions.

Plant Picture & Sentence Match Up

Dinomite & Princess are amazing readers.  Within the last three months Bulldozer has made great strides in his reading efforts.  

In this activity the kiddos will match up pictures to their corresponding sentences.

Source:  I created this printable as part of my Vegetable Garden Unit Printable pack 1. This is a subscriber's only freebie. For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Garden Tool Nomenclature Cards

Part of gardening is learning about and using some pretty neat tools.  The kiddos have seen me garden, but other than planting their very own rose bush, they've never participated in the planting process.  In the case of the rose bushes, I had already dug the hole.

In preparation for this unit, I ordered kid sized large and small gardening tools and accessories just for the kiddos.  When they arrived I took a picture of each one to make these cards.  

The kiddos LOVE these cards and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their new gardening tools.  

Source:  I created the printable for this activity as part of my Vegetable Garden Unit Printable Pack 1. For your free copy, click on the link at the bottom of this post.

Measuring Out Seeds

Part of gardening is planting seeds.  The kiddos have never done this before.  

In this activity they will be introduced to the directions on the back of the seed packages.  Once they have read the directions, they will flatten out the play dough (using their hands).  

Next they will mark the recommended distance between seeds, place holes in the play dough (using their fingers).  Then they will place the correct number of seeds in each hole.  

It will be a great measurement and skip counting activity!

Vegetable & Plant Match Up

Princess has been asking a TON of questions about gardens, plants, fruits, and vegetables.  Her most popular question seems to be what type of plant each fruit and vegetable comes from.  This activity was designed for her.

The kiddos will match up vegetables to their corresponding plants.  

I'm pretty sure Dinomite and Bulldozer will turn this activity into a memory game.  

No matter how they choose to complete the activity, they'll learn what each of the vegetable plants look like and learn to identify A LOT of different kinds of vegetables.

Source:  I created this printable as part of my Vegetable Garden Printable Pack 1. This is a subscriber's only freebie.  For your free copy, follow the directions at the bottom of this post.

Planting Tomato Seeds

The kiddos are super eager to start planting now.  Unfortunately our outdoor growing season does not start until the end of May.  

So, instead of purchasing tomato plants at that time, I thought we'd try to grow our own from seeds. 

They should be ready to plant outdoors when it's time.  

The kiddos will scoop the dirt out of the bowl and place it in the "pot."  They will add their seeds, cover them, and add water.

Outdoor Exploration & Discovery

A major part of our vegetable garden unit this week is spending time outdoors, cleaning up our lawn, and getting it ready for a garden.  

The kiddos love using their new tools and exploring as they work.  Dinomite was so proud to find all of the parts of a plant in tact and identified them all accurately. 

Bulldozer loved raking leaves into a pile to jump in.  (Snow came before we were able to do our fall raking.)  

Both boys loved digging holes with their new tools and found a few fun worms they loved studying and observing.  This already has been and will continue to be quite a fun unit!

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If you're looking for some fabulous Earth Day Play Ideas & Activities, look no further!

Earth Day Sensory Play with Shaving Cream from Golden Reflections Blog

Layers of the Earth (Free Printable) from The Pinay Homeschooler

Sensory Play for Earth Day from Mama's Happy Hive

Creation Sky and Water Hands-On Learning Activities from Christian Montessori Network

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