Pumpkins and Petunias

If you are a teacher, parent, home schooler, after-school instructor, park or botanical garden interpreter, pre-school teacher or child development specialist, you will love this book. It is about things to do with children between the ages of 2 and 8 in all types of gardens. The activities, collected from outstanding teachers and the authors' childhood use inquiry learning in response to the importance of being outdoors with children. The book explains how to select and adapt activities that are suitable for the specifi c garden and the specifi c children, and guidelines for safety. All of the activities are to be conducted outdoors and use the garden for content and materials, not just for a space. Forty-eight carefully selected activities are presented in outline form for easy selection and following. Each lesson includes the objectives, a brief word to the leader, materials in list form, directions for doing the activity, relation to the subject standards, and suggestions for related activities. The subject areas of the proposed book include all of the disciplines and the teaching strategies of inquiry, playing, questioning, creating, constructing, etc. The appendices match the activities to the National Core State Standards, Science for the Next Generation and curriculum standards of The National Association for the Education of Young Children.