Most children enjoy planting seeds. There is something miraculous about the whole process of germination and growth that delights children and captures their imagination. Use the wonderful book The Tiny Seed to learn about the life cycle of a flower. Then enjoy some fun planting and seed activities. Includes imaginative play, songs, STEM activities, and a simple craft with your preschooler.
Add these activities to your winter lesson plans for preschool. Don’t forget to check out the super easy flower crafts at the bottom of the post too.
The Tiny Seed
We love delving right into books. Our hibernation activities for preschoolers post was well received by blog readers and you wanted more!
Reading great children’s literature that has an inspiring message of the importance of perseverance is great. Eric Carle’s classic story is one that everyone can love to read. This might be his best-known work, but make sure to check out other great books.
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Introducing The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. (we love having copies of his books!)
The lifecycle of a flower is beautifully captured in this captivating story. The story starts when flower pods burst and send out their seeds on the wind. Not all of the seeds survive the journey, but the tiny seed lands in good soil and begin to grow. The tiny seed grows a lot slower than everyone else, but eventually transforms into an enormous plant with beautiful flowers. Finally, as fall comes around again the plant makes seedpods, which burst and send out their seeds on the wind
Bright illustrations and simple text make this a joy to read. Your children will love looking at the wonderful illustrations that tell the story. This is a cyclical book as the ending of the book takes us back to the beginning of the story, so it is a wonderfully easy way to introduce the ideas of life cycles and seasons.
I’ve found that preschoolers really enjoy this story and they seem to love what happens to the tiny seed. I particularly like underlying message, that it’s not always the biggest, fastest or highest-flying seed that ends up growing into the most beautiful flower.
WHEN YOU ARE READING
Take your time with The Tiny Seed book. The captivating illustrations are classic Eric Carle. Begin by taking a picture walk through the book. Look at the cover and all the pictures without reading the story. Point out things that interest you. Ask:
- What do you see on this page?
- What do you think is happening?
Parent Tip: This book has a lot of text and younger preschoolers may have difficulty sitting still for the whole story. They will still enjoy looking at the pictures though. The illustrations do a great job of telling the story, so this will suffice until they are old enough to listen to the words.
As the story of the seed unfolds we visit many places and meet a number of animals
- The ocean
- An icy mountain
- A hot desert
- The bird, bees, butterflies and a mouse
- And of course the wind
You can make the story more interactive by
- Making the sounds of the wind together.
- Moving your hands like the ocean waves,
- Shivering and say, “brr” on the icy mountain,
- Fanning yourself with your hands in the hot desert
- And moving around like the animals.
When the seeds begin to grow invite your child to point to the parts of the flowers
- The roots
- The stem and leaves
- The flowers
When the little seed begins to grow ask
- How big do you think it will get?
- Do you think it will grow flowers?
- What color might they be?
When you have finished why not enjoy some seed and planting activities?
The Tiny Seed: Awesome Activities To Enjoy With Your Preschooler
Once you read about Eric Carle’s classic story, why not add another exciting story or nature lesson?
ENJOY A FINGER PLAY
This is my garden (Extend one hand forward, palm up)
I’ll rake it with care, (Make raking motion on palm with 3 fingers of other hand)
I’ve got some small seeds (Use thumb and finger to show small)
To plant right in there. (Plant motion)
The sun will shine (Make circle with hands)
And the rain will fall, (Let fingers flutter down to lap)
My seeds will sprout (Cup hands together; extend upward slowly)
And grow really tall. (Stand on tiptoes and indicate tall)
SING A SONG
Sing: The Farmer Plants Some Seeds
HAVE FUN WITH SOME STEM ACTIVITIES
Plant some seeds together. Choose something that will sprout quickly. Sunflowers are a great choice. The seeds are large, germinate quickly, and grow into very impressive flowers. Show the children the picture on the front of the seed package. Look at the seeds.
Marvel at the way the seed transforms into a huge plant. Provide spoons, pots and soil and follow the directions on the seed packet to plant the seeds. Keep the plant watered and place it in a sunny window once it pushes through the soil. When it is a small seedling it can go into the garden.
A seed jar is a very cool seed science activity to try! Children can watch the seed sprout, put out roots, and start to grow.
You can also talk about the simple life cycle of a plant, and have fun helping the children grow their own seeds. This is fun to do during a long winter, and it’s a great way to use flower seeds to show the kids that they can make their own flowers!
Even the tiniest seed has a chance to grow into a beautiful flower! Very young children will love the responsibility to care for their own seed and maybe grow their own giant flower!
Make sure to talk to the children about survival of the seeds. They need to plant in fertile ground, and sometimes bigger seeds don’t make it, just like sometimes smaller seeds don’t either. There is also the danger of strong wind that can upend the seed’s progress – but those are all talking points and don’t have to be reality!
You can also watch a time-lapse video of seeds germinating and growing.
ENJOY A TASTY SEED SNACK
Make popcorn together. Show your children the popcorn seeds and use a hot air or microwave popper to pop the corn. Compare the size of the popped corn with the seeds.
Alternatively enjoy some fruit or vegetables that have seeds such as apples, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, and edible pod peas.
IMAGINATIVE PLAY
The Tiny Seed naturally lends itself to imaginative play.
- Invite your child to become the tiny seed and float and twirl around the room on the wind. Slowly settle into the ground and curl into the seed. It’s time to sleep through the winter.
- Clap your hands and announce that it is spring and it’s time to grow. Wiggle like seeds getting ready to burst and slowly start to grow.
- Now grow and grow until you are on your tippy toes
- It’s time to blossom use your hands to make flowers
- Explain that it is Fall and the wind is going to take your seeds and blow them away. Invite your children to become a seed once more blow in the wind and find a new place to land. Now you are ready to start over again.
The fun part about imaginative stories and play is that there isn’t any winner and everyone can have fun. They can create their own adventure of a tiny seed and tell a great story about their new sprout and then hopefully their small plant!
Even though the book will be an important influence, the kids will be able to tell their own tale. Have them use picture book illustrations as well to create their own adventure of a tiny seed!
Preschool Spring Flower Planting Play Dough Activity
Invite your children to plant flowers with this delightful play dough activity.
SIMPLE CRAFTS- MAKE FLOWERS
Cupcake Liner Flowers: This is a really simple craft and preschoolers really seem to enjoy it.
Materials
- Cupcake liners
- Craft sticks
- Glue or glue dots
- Self adhesive foam flower shapes
Turn the cupcake liners inside out, so the bright colors are on the inside. Use a dab of glue to layer two (or more) cupcake lines. Place a flower shape in the middle. Glue the liners to the craft stick and you’re done! When we did this at story time some of the children used flower petals as leaves. This is such an easy craft that children can make bouquets of flowers. Let your children do what they like with their flowers. At this age it is the process of making that is important, not the end result. Look at these two creations.
Paper Flowers Handprint Craft For Kids
Make some more paper flowers with this handprint craft.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Do you enjoy planting seeds with your children? Do you have any special seedy snacks? Have you read The Tiny Seed book? Eric Carle books are always well received by children. Share in the comments below.
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