Gardening with children offers so many opportunities to learn. We love growing our own fruit and vegetables, even though our garden is small, so the children get to see where their food comes from and how seeds transform into something tasty to eat.
The sunflowers we’re growing as part of the Sunflower Challenge charity competition are doing well so far – with an extra few centimetres of growth every time we measure them.
This weekend we’ve been working on one of the ideas from our Sunflower Activities ebook: making a garden journal.
(Have you got your copy of the free Sunflower Activities ebook yet? Click on the link and download your copy.)
We’re using a scrapbook for our journal and filling it with all sorts of information and pictures as we go through our gardening year – making a wonderful record of everything we’ve done, seen and grown. Here are some things we’ll be including:
- diary entries of our progress: what we planted, when things began to grown, what we’ve been enjoying outside (giving the kids lots of opportunities to practise their writing)
- photos and drawings of the plants and animals we observe
- treasures stuck on to the pages such as seeds, dried leaves, seed packets
- scientific and mathematical data on how high plants are growing and what conditions they like
The journal is a collaborative project that everyone is taking part in and I’m making sure to keep it out, rather than stored away on a shelf, to encourage lots of entries whenever the kids see something they want to include. By mixing in writing, photos and pictures everyone can join in – whether they’re at the writing stage or not. We’re hoping by the end of summer – when if we’re lucky we’ll have enough produce for a harvest celebration – to have a beautiful record of all the fun we’ve had in the garden this year.
Are you growing anything with your children? Are you doing any linked activities to springboard the gardening into literacy, math, science or art? We’d love to hear your ideas.
happily shared with the all year round spring carnival and works for me Wednesday made by you Monday and science sunday and link and learn and share your Sunday best and craft schooling Sunday and creative Friday and for the kids Friday and the outdoor play link up and it’s playtime and upcycled awesome and works for me Wednesday
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This is such a cute idea!
I let each of my kids plant a little window box of their choice of food this spring. Emma and Johnny picked peas, and Lily picked carrots. Then Johnny pulled out one of Emma’s peas and she sobbed and sobbed. We planted a new one in it’s place!
We took pictures of our garden this afternoon and I just printed them; I’m excited to make a collaborative journal with the kids!
I hope you have fun with it Alissa
I am gardening at my son’s school. The children have recycled their milk cartons, filled with soil and have planted seeds in their classroom. Children can decorate their “planters” with scraps of colored paper, etc. We’ll transplant the plants in the outdoor garden. They also got to hold worms during our composting discussion. We are going to plant native plants that will attract pollinators, such as migrant Monarch butterflies. Once our veggies are ready to be picked, we will harvest and a meal will be made in our cafeteria.
Hi GrowingLikeWeeds, that sounds like such a wonderful project. I love the idea of planting lots of native plants to get all those insect visitors.
That looks a fab idea, I really want to get Baba into gardening. I think next year would be a good year to start and hopefully our garden will look much better by then! xx
What a beautiful idea and how satisfying the whole process would be for kids – from planting to observing and then recording in their journal..!
That is such a cute idea! I can see taking the supplies outside when you make the journal and evening creating it right there in the garden. That would be great outdoor play. Thanks for joining the outdoor play link up!
Hi Abbie, it’s a pleasure to join in with the very first outdoor play idea swap
Cathy, I just knew you would be our first Outdoor Play contributor! You guys get up to such wonderful things.
I really love the idea of journalling. I love the idea of literacy in action rather than drill-activities. This is such a wonderful way for littlies to engage with nature and develop their literacy in a meaningful way.
Ah Kate, thanks. I’m a big fan of literacy in action – suits the kids so well too.
We are container gardening once again this year:
http://michellescharmworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/planting-onions.html
I Love that idea for a journal and then just 1 for everyone to get involved in. I just may be starting this next week! haha!!
Hi Michelle – yes I also love the idea of having just one journal. It’s nice to collaborate and have a team spirit.
What a great idea! We’re doing something similar…a nature book…taking picture of all the different plants, etc. that we find outside and putting them in a book and labeling them. My daughter is only four, so she’s not doing much writing, but maybe having her draw pictures as well would be good to add. Thanks for your ideas!
Hi Krissa – did you see Lissybug is making a journal too and including quotes from her kids about what they find in the garden. This could be a great way to include your daughter’s thoughts even though she can’t write? http://lissybug.com/garden-journal-may/
I love the idea of nature journals. I’ve never thought about keeping a garden journal. What a great idea!! Thanks for sharing
[...] We’re recording all our observations in our garden journal, and once the first leaves have appeared we’ll be planting the seeds in some soil so they can [...]
What a beautiful idea. I’m bookmarking this for spring. It’s just starting to get really cold here in our little part of the world, and the vegie garden is looking a bit neglected… But my kids would love this.
This is fabulous!!! Thanks for sharing it with us at For the Kids Friday! I’m off to share this with my Facebook friends now
Great journals! And thanks for the link to the sunflower activities e-book! That’ll be fun to do! Stopping by from Science Sunday!
Hi Jessy – thanks for stopping by.
I just love this idea!!! Thanks for sharing it at For the Kids Friday at Sun Scholars! You have been featured this week! Stop by and grab an A++ button for your page, and link up again for another week of fun!
http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-kids-friday-11.html
That’s very kind of you Rachel – thank you
Wonderful idea. I think this will be a weekend project for us. My daughter will love doing it all summer. Thanks.
I LOVE this journal! I love things that have drawings and things glued in and all sorts of stuff like that.
Mee too Ticia – lots of mixed media makes it much more interesting I think.
I’m teaching children’s writing workshops this summer – one of our classes will be making handmade journals. I think I’ll use this as one option for the kids to consider when they begin writing. So fun to imagine the possibilities!
Melissa, I like the idea of a class journal – might make it more inviting for reluctant writers who would feel overwhelmed at doing on all by themselves.
[...] Another post I really enjoyed was Cathy’s garden journal. [...]
[...] Start as you mean to go on: lay something out on the breakfast table for the children to discover as soon as they wake. How about a holiday scrapbook or garden journal. [...]
oh boy, do I love this!!! I’m so having this be a part of our summertime gardening! Thank you!!!
[...] doesn’t work for us – but adding writing in to play or setting up a invitation which sparks their interest [...]
[...] keeping a garden journal [...]
I want to do this with my kids this year! Thanks for linking up to the all year round spring carnival!!!
This is great! Thanks so much for sharing with the All Year Round Spring Carnival.
Off to find a scrapbook…
I’ve featured your garden journal here: http://sunnydaytodaymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/all-year-round-week-one-7-spring-ideas.html Thanks so much again for sharing it with our spring carnival.
When I was younger and being homeschooled, we made nature journals and my brother maI followed you here from All Year Round SPRING Blog Carnival. My latest spring post is here: http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/04/wonderfull-full-of-wonder-wednesday_18.htmlde a very nice “Bird Book” but a garden journal is a great idea!
[...] Write a garden journal [...]
[...] child, full of photos, drawings and diary entries – perhaps a diary of your vacation or a garden journal. Mixing up how you record things can be great for reluctant writers. One of my daughters loves to [...]
[...] J is for journals: make writing part of your daily routine [...]