NEW 2015 RESOURCES
Gardening for Kids Theme Page
This "Theme Page" has links to two types of resources related to the study of gardening. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are also links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme. Please read our disclaimer.
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Aggie
Horticulture: Just for Kids
- Enter via their home page above or go directly to some of their educational
resources below.
- Gardening
Ideas This section of the site breaks into three pages: Gardening
Ideas for Kids, Parents, and Teachers, each with suggested activities.
The teacher site also has lesson plans.
- Kindergarden
An introduction to the ways that children can interact with plants and
the outdoors. For example, their "Fun Page for Kids" contains project
ideas, an art gallery, and links to other sites. There's also a section
on "Special Tips for Gardening with Kids."
- Nutrition
in the Garden Information on fun ways to teach children about nutrition
through gardening.
- School
Gardens General information, resources, and links for starting and
operating school gardens.
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AskERIC
Lesson Plans: Agriculture
- About a dozen lesson plans which cumulatively cover grades K-12.
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Composting
in Schools
- Menu selections include: Why Composting? Teacher's Page (lesson plans,
activities, teacher forum); Ideas for Student Research Projects; Compost Quiz;
Science and Engineering (explaining the science and engineering behind composting;
includes experiments); Composting Indoors; Composting Outdoors; Weird and
Unusual Composting; and, Frequently Asked Questions.
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[The]
Evergreen Foundation
- "The Evergreen Foundation aims to involve schools, communities, government
and business in the process of transforming bleak asphalt, concrete and mown
turf into healthier and more educational natural environments." Their School
Ground Naturalization program is intended to give Canadian teachers and students
the resources to transform school grounds into healthy environments of inspiration,
education and play.
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Flowerbase
- A searchable database of over 7,000 pictures of flowers, plants and garden
plants.
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-
From
the Ground Up
- Here's a teachers' lesson guide on food, agriculture, and sustainable development.
There are five on-line lessons: The History of Agriculture and a Description
of Sustainable Development; Soil; Agriculture and Chemicals; The Real Cost
of Food; and Everything's Connected.
-
Garden
Guides
- Tips and techniques on a wide variety of gardening topics, including: herbs
and pregnancy; herbal remedies; succession planting; compost; starting seeds;
cutting flowers; annuals; forcing bulbs; container garding; herb companions;
storing vegetables; and much more. They also have guides on herbs, vegetables,
and flowers.
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GardenWeb
- Here's a great resource for gardeners, including forums, looks at gardens
of the world, a directory of the Association of Online Growers and Suppliers,
a mystery plant contest, an online magazine (The Cyber-Plantsman), a link
to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Garden Exchange (a place to post requests
for seeds and plants), gardening tips, and links to other gardening www sites.
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[The]
Great Plant Escape
- Six interdisciplinary plant science lessons for grade 4 and 5 students
from the University of Illinois. Activities to help students increase their
understanding of how foods grow cover math, science, language arts, social
studies, music and art.
-
How
Weeds Impact Agriculture and Modes of Eradication
- In this lesson, high school students use the Internet to examine pictures
of common weeds and then research and discuss conventional and unconventional
methods of eradicating them.
-
I
Can Garden: Kidz Corner
- Articles, activities and links for teachers and kids.
-
Kids
and the Classroom
- Sponsored by the National Gardening Association, this page is intended
for teachers interested in using plants and gardens to enrich learning. Check
out their articles, instructional programs, teachers' newsletters, professional
development program, and catalog of growing ideas.
-
Kids
in the Garden
- Five simple ideas for making gardening at home more fun for kids. The ideas
are generalizable to school environments as well.
-
Kid's
Valley Garden
- Lots of information, written for kids, on how to plan, plant, maintain,
and show their garden. In addition, students can learn about a variety of
specific flowers, veggies, herbs, and shrubs. The site is hosted by the Pakenham
Junior Horticultural Society, Canada.
N.
J. Agricultural Weed Gallery
- A database of information (including images) of common weeds.
-
Plants
and Youth
- Five instructional documents from the University of Florida: Discover Indoor
Gardening ; Designing and Building a Hanging Basket; Making a Totem; Designing
and Building a Terrarium; and, Creating Dish Gardens and Windowsill Water
Gardens
-
Rot
Web
- Everything you wanted to know about composting. Check out their "Teacher
Resources" for student handouts, activities, and other resources.
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[The]
Virtual Garden
- Included are a searchable database of plants (pictures and instructions
for growing), answers to questions about growing house plants, and instructions
for garden projects.
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-
[The]
Wonderful World of Insects
- What would gardening be without insects? There's lots of information at
this site although the language level will be too high for younger students.

Note: The sites listed above will serve as a source of curricular content in Gardening. For other resources in Science (e.g., curricular content in Earth Science, General Science, Life Science, or Physical Science), or for lesson plans and theme pages, click the "previous screen" button below. Or, click here if you wish to return directly to the CLN menu which will give you access to educational resources in all of our subjects.