Garden & Flower Books and Activities for Kids

This week is “Garden School”. We’re learning about plants, flowers and seeds. I absolutely love talking about plants because there is so much plant and growing imagery in the Bible!

It also works well because we just finished planting our own garden in the backyard! I want my kids to be attached to the earth in this way–to have them see seedtime and harvest. To experience the big miracle of a small seed producing fruit! It’s such a great picture of the seeds of God’s Word planted in their hearts and the harvest it will produce.

We’ve done a few fun plant activities…

Flower Matching: I made the flower on the left with craft foam. Asa copied it on the right.

Parts of a Flower: We talked about the roots, stem, leaves, flower and seeds.

We read some even more fabulous seed and plant books…

The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado is kind of a long story. So, your littles may not sit still for the whole thing. But it’s a great story about a little acorn who can’t imagine that he could ever be a big oak like his mother. She tells him to “be the oak God made for you to be”. It’s a great story about growing, the gifts God has given us and trusting in His plan.

I love love love Karma Wilson (author of the Bear series). I didn’t know until recently she had some faith-based picture books, too. Mortimer’s First Garden is a fun story of a little mouse who plants a garden and learns about the miracle of growth from the Creator! I LOVE THIS BOOK!

So, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and The Tale of Peter Rabbit might be a bit of a stretch–but they do take place in a garden. And they are classic literature your kids should hear. The story is really about the folly of disobeying your parents. Plus, they get disciplined at the end! When was the last time you read a book where a kid actually got disciplined?!

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle is also not a Bible-based book. But after reading it I wondered if maybe it was a Christian book because it is almost Matthew 13 exactly! A tiny seed sees his other seed friends fall on different kinds of soils and eventually die or not grow. The tiny seed finally falls onto good soil and grows larger than the trees! Talk about a crop of 100 times!

After reading this book, I read Matthew 13 and we talked about how God’s Word is  seed in our hearts. We need to plant it on good soil, remembering it, reciting it and meditating on it. Then it will grow in our lives! We thought of a few verses like “Put on kindness as if it were your clothes” and “A gentle answer turns anger away”. I encouraged them to see those verses as seeds we want to see grow in their actions. It was a good conversation and I hope they understood!

You don’t have to homeschool to do these activities. Gardening is a great way to teach God’s Word and how to grow in Him. Grab some of these books, plant a seed and do some garden activities with your kids this Spring!

What’s your favorite flower or garden book?

Check out my Spring Has Sprung Pinterest Board for more garden-y fun!