A Garden of Goodies

We found this next gardening unit full of free printable worksheets at Lightning Bug Literacy and thought we'd share a few of our favorite exercises!

Flower Life Cycle. Teach your preschoolers about the life cycle of a plant - what it needs to grow, the proper vocabulary words {i.e. sprout, bud, etc.}, and what it looks like at each step - with this fun sequencing activity. To touch on the cyclical nature of life cycles, consider having your students use the cards to create a diagram on a piece of construction paper.

Flower Counting. Invite your kiddos to practice numeral recognition and counting with these fun, brightly colored flower cards. Complete ordering activities, having students place all the flower cards in the correct numerical sequence {both regular and skip counting}, and fine motor counting activities, inviting students to place the correct number of clothespins or other math manipulatives on the cards.

Silhouette Matching. Use this silhouette matching game to start off the morning, as a transition between activities, or at the match center. As they search for the correct pairs, students will familiarize themselves with common garden objects, hone observation skills, and build problem solving skills.

3-Part Vocabulary Cards. Invite your students to strengthen observation skills, problem solve, learn new vocabulary words, and hone visual discrimination skills with these three-part vocabulary/puzzle cards of common gardening items. Students will have fun building each picture and associating the vocabulary words with the picture they describe. Start with two sets of cards - one whole and one cut apart - having students use the whole cards as a guide when matching the other pieces. As they get used to the exercise, take away the guide deck and test students' knowledge/retention.

For more great gardening exercises and printables, be sure to visit the full post at Lightning Bug Literacy!

Happy Learning!