What Will Grow? – Fun Seed Activities for Kids

Posted by Mar 20, 2017 Book Based Activities, Books, Family Fun, Seasons, Spring

Spring is coming! I love the spring time. The snow melts away, the flowers start to pop out of the ground and we can get outside again. Springtime feels like it is full of possibilities. We bought our house in November a few years ago, so when the gardens around our house started to bloom, we had no idea what types of plants and flowers to expect. It was so fun watching the plants start to come up through the soil and wait to see what would grow. Today’s book asks the same thing, and offers a lot of fun opportunities to learn about plants with different kinds of seed activities.

Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What Will Grow? was written by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by Susie Ghahremani. This book explores a variety of different seeds in a short rhyming text and colorful illustrations. Some of the pages fold out, allowing the reader to see how plants grow. (For example, the sunflower page folds up to show how tall they grow). Each two page spread shows what the seeds look like before they are planted, as well as what the plants look like after they bloom.

I really like how the illustrations show different animals interacting with the seeds and the plants. It introduces readers to the growth cycle of these seeds and plants without human interaction. There are squirrels playing with the acorns which will become a tree, and birds pecking apple seeds out of a core. The final spread showcasing a beautiful garden full of wildlife will inspire kids to want to grow their own. The book also includes a glossary giving readers more information on the seeds and plants shown in the book, including when and how to plant them. They also break down the growth cycle of the plants from seeds to flower, and then back to seeds again. This book provides a great introduction to gardens and plants for young children.

Learning About Seeds

Sensory Seeds – Seeds present a great sensory learning experience for kids. Put a variety of different seeds into a container and let kids explore them. Talk to them about how each of them feels, looks and sounds. Are they rough, pointy or round? Do they sound heavy or light when you pour them into a container? Have them use descriptive words to talk about the different seeds and introduce them to new vocabulary. Give them an opportunity to play with them using cups, spoons or other tools.

Counting/Sorting Seeds – Seeds are a great manipulative to practice sorting, counting or grouping. You can use them for kids at various skill levels. Have young kids sort seeds based on certain characteristics (round or long, brown or black). Children who are working on counting can place numbers of seeds on a counting mat. Older children can sort seeds into groups or threes, fives, tens, etc. I created a free counting mat printable to help kids organize their seeds. The first printable is marked 1-10 so kids can add the correct number of seeds into each box, while the other is blank so they can organize their seeds into groups.

What Will Grow?

Predicting What Will Grow – This is a fun way to get kids excited about science and teach them how to grow plants. Get an assortment of seeds and have kids plant them in different planters without knowing what they are. Have them make predictions when they first plant them and write them down. Show them how to take care of the plants, making sure to give them water and place them in the sun. As they start to grow, see if they want to adjust their predictions at all. This activity also helps kids to work on making predictions and altering their answers based on the evidence they are given.

 

Planting a Garden Together

Planting a Garden – Find a space in your yard, or on your rooftop or windowsill, and give kids the chance to plant flowers or vegetables that they like. This could be a fun project to get the whole family involved in. Go to the store together and check out the selection of seeds available. Discuss the types of plants that will be best suited for the size and placement of your garden. Read up on how to correctly plant and care for the seeds you have picked out. Assign jobs to everyone, whether it is digging, planting or watering the plants. This is a great opportunity to teach kids about responsibility, because the plants can’t grow if they don’t take care of them!

Dramatic Play Garden- Dramatic play is a great way to introduce kids to real world situations, while giving them the opportunity to use their imaginations. Create an area in your home where kids can act out gardening and tending to plants. You can purchase fake flowers at a craft store or online (here are some from Amazon). You could also make your own out of colored felt. Cut various flower shapes out of  felt and attach a green pipe cleaner for a stem.

You can create a garden area by lining up pool noodles in a box and draping brown or black felt over them. Tuck the felt between the noodles to create rows. You can then “plant” play food or felt food. Make sure you stock their garden area with shovels, buckets and a watering can so they can mimic tending to their garden. You can also poke holes in a paper towel holder and place the flowers inside so your child can “pick” them.

Seed activities for all kinds of learning!

There are so many fun ways to incorporate seeds into learning activities, and this book is a great starting point. From science and math to dramatic play, there is a little something for everyone. Get kids excited about the spring time with some of these fun activities!


124 comments on “What Will Grow? – Fun Seed Activities for Kids”

  1. Looks like a very interesting and educational read. I love the idea to bring children, from an early age, as closer to nature as possible!

  9. I love all of these ideas! What a great idea to have them sort different seeds…a great hands on learning experience!

    • I’m so glad! There isn’t a lot of text on each page, so you can really focus on the words that do rhyme.

    • Haha, I have a feeling my daughter will try to do that as well this year, but hopefully it will still be fun!

  14. Another great post with great ideas! We have a garden, and my toddler loves to help. I’ll have to try the fake flowers garden. She would love that!

  21. I also love Springtime. This is a great post. Thanks for sharing this nice book—kids will absolutely love this. They can learn to have a green thumb at an early age.

    • Thanks! I hope my daughter having experiences like this early on will encourage her to keep it up later in life!

  22. I never thought about using pool noodles for the planting dramatic play- that is PERFECT and totally going to be happening at my house. Thanks!

  23. We just started a garden last year. It was small, but the kids loved helping! This year we will be doing much more, and it will be more hands on for the kids! We’re excited! The girls ask me everyday if today’s the today we can plant!

  29. We are learning about seeds right now for homeschool. My girls are a little older for these activities but we will be planting a garden in a couple months!

  30. OMG I can’t wait to do fun seed activities with my daughter when she’s old enough! Personally I kill every plant there is, so hopefully she’s better than me!!! hehe

    • I don’t have a great track record with plants either! Hopefully the next generation will do better!

  31. Those books sound like great options to help kids learn about seeds. My son loved seeds when he was little and always wanted to plant them. Would have loved to have those books for him.

  35. I can’t wait for my son to get old enough to do such fun activities like this! I especially like all the extra activities you can create around the process of growing seeds. Thanks for this review!

  36. Thank you for these ideas! My littlest one has always been so interested in flowers and plants. I actually decorated our dining nook with images of flowers for her. I think she especially will appreciate these. And both the girls love pretend play so I think that one especially will be a hit!

    • I’m so glad! I hope they have a lot of fun with them! My daughter has loved picking up pinecones, sticks and anything else she can find on our walks. I’m excited to see how she will like actual flowers!

  37. This post couldn’t have come at a better time for us…the kids and I just purchased a fairly absurd assortment of seeds to flesh out the starter plants in our brand new vegetable garden. I think they will adore this book!

  38. You always have the BEST ideas! Your posts *almost* make me miss teaching Kindergarten (I teach 2nd now). I haven’t heard of this book, I’ll have to recommend it to some of my K friends.

  39. Learning about seeds and planting them in the garden. Watching them grow as they learn to care for them. Great learning experience.

  40. This is so well thought out. My toddler will love it. Of course, living in an apartment, it will have to be scaled back. Fortunately her grandpa has a small garden that she “helps” him with. (She loves pulling up the carrots.)

    • Aw, that is adorable! Hopefully she will enjoy pulling pretend carrots out of the dramatic play garden!

    • That is my hope! I want my daughter to enjoy the outdoors. In a generation being raised with more technology than we can even imagine, I want her to have a basic love of nature too!

  42. We planted some wildflowers but left the pot out overnight during a bad rain storm and woke up to empty egg cartons! ha! We need to try again 😉

    • Oh no! That is kind of how my track record goes with planting outside! I am determined to do better now that my daughter is helping!

  43. What a fun activity to do with the kids!! Gardening is a great passion of mine and I hoped to get my kids more involved and the books and products you recommended would be great Easter basket ideas to get them started.

    • Thank you! I will definitely be using some of them for my daughter’s Easter basket as well! I love filling Easter baskets with fun spring activities.

    • That is exciting! I hope to plant a couple of things this year. We have to start small since my track record is less than stellar!

  46. Great ideas! I love the activities you suggested to go along with the book! My little man would love playing with/counting seeds!

  47. Love it! We just planted our tomato seeds yesterday indoors, and I’m looking forward to planting some early crops in the garden soon. Teaching kids through gardening is one of my favorite things. They learn SO much in such a hands-on way!

    • Thank you! I do not have a green thumb either, so I hope that my track record improves while teaching my daughter!

  53. The book looks very interesting and i love how it is for little children. I specifically love when we teach our young ones these important yet fun activities from an early age.

    • I agree! I think the earlier you start teaching kids about nature and gardening, the more they will enjoy it!

  54. We plant seeds every year (that I then usually kill one way or another). I’m so cross with myself that it’s so late in the year already and I haven’t got started. I’m taking this as nudge to get out in the garden with my daughter!

    • I’m glad to give you the nudge! I am also infamous for not doing so well with plants, so I feel your pain!

  55. What a great post! My children love to get involved in the garden, often more than I do, so will be implementing some of these!

  57. Love this post. My kiddos love helping in the yard and growing things. Last year we grew tomatoes and my daughter loved collecting the tomatoes. It’s fun to see them learn and enjoy doing it.

    • That is awesome! I’m hoping my daughter will have fun with our gardening this year now that she is a bit older. She loves doing housework, so I’m hopeful!

  58. Such great tips! I love this season 🙂 We have a new home and can’t wait to get planting in the garden with the kids, I know they are going to love watching their seeds grow!

    • Thank you! I love this season too. So much possibility! I hope you have fun planting your new garden!

Comments are closed.