Children learn the basics of how a seed grows into a flower, and learn how to draw a spring scene.

Objective: Children can list three things a flower needs to grow.

Supplies:

• Paper – at least one sheet per child; crayons or markers – make sure you have plenty of brown and green!
• And a book of your choice.

Intro and Book

I asked them “If I wanted to grow a flower, what’s the first thing I need?” They say seed. “If I just put the seed here on the table, would it grow to be a flower? No? What else does it need?” They answer – usually saying water, soil and sun, but you can prompt if they don’t or correct misconceptions if they have any. “If I plant it today will I have a flower tomorrow? No? Why not?”

Then I read Zinnia’s Flower Garden. (Video preview.) It’s a cute book that offered a nice preview of the process from seed to flower. There are additional book recommendations below, and more in my Seeds and Plants lesson plan. Make sure to note where it illustrates that plants need soil, water, and air, and where it shows that a plant sprouts under the ground before we can see it above the ground.

Drawing Activity:

Show them how to draw a brown line a couple inches of their paper for dirt. Then, draw some dark brown seeds in the dirt (below that line.) “Make sure you give space between them so your flowers will have room to grow.”

Ask: “what does the seed need to grow?” Show them how to draw the sun and some rain drops. (Whichever one they say first, do first.)

Say as you draw this: “the seed starts to grow under the ground where we can’t see it – a sprout starts reaching toward the sun, and the roots go down into the earth.” They all draw that. (I sang the chorus of this song as they drew their roots.)

“Eventually, we’ll see something like this poke out of the ground. This is called a stem.” You draw, they draw. “Then leaves grow on it.” They draw. Then say “after a little more time, and a little more sun and little more water, the flower will open.” Draw a flower.

With my four year olds, some draw a picture that looks a lot like mine… some have the seeds above the ground, the rain under the ground, some kids draw something else. It’s all good.

Song

Choose one as a review of what you have covered. We did the first one in music time, so used the second here.

I’ll plant a little seed in the ground (Tune: I’m a little teapot. Video of tune and gestures)
I’ll plant a little seed in the dark, dark ground. (bend down, plant a seed on the floor)
Out comes the yellow sun, big and round. (raise arms to make a big circle over head)
Down comes the cool rain, soft and slow. (raise your fingers up and down to make rain)
Up comes the little seed, grow, grow, grow! (squat on the floor and rise up slowly)

Dig Dig Dig (Tune: Row Your Boat. Video of tune and gestures)
Dig, dig, dig the earth (pretend to dig).
Then you plant your seeds  (pretend to plant)
A gentle rain  (fingers flutter down),
and bright sunshine  (arms circle overhead)
Then flowers you will see  (open arms wide)  

Alternative Books:

• The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (preview video). A little long for this age group.
• Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert. (preview video) The words aren’t quite as engaging as other books, but the fabulous color of the illustrations makes this a really appealing book.
• Seed to Plant. (preview video) A nice little non-fiction. I would skip many pages for a 4 year old class.

For older children, The Reason for a Flower is excellent. (Video). Note: this post includes Amazon affiliate links.