In the Garden with Children: Stories and Activities

Harriet and her pals are playing baseball in the park near Mrs. Hoozit's house. When George hits a fly ball, Harriet's determined to catch it. She's concentrating so hard, she runs right into Mrs. Hoozit's garden of prize flowers. Harriet panics and runs away. That night Harriet feels terrible-she can't even eat the special treat her mom makes for her. What can she do?

Butterflies bloom as delicately as flowers in this visually magnificent story of beginnings, middles and ends: eggs, caterpillars and finally butterflies.

With lyrical language that captures the majesty of the natural world coupled with fun narrative featured throughout, this spirited picture book tells the victorious story of three girls' friendship—and their tribulations and triumphs in the great outdoors. Here is the best and worst of any hike: from picnics to puffing and panting, deer-sighting to detours. Featuring a glossary, a sketchbook by one of the characters, abundant labels throughout, and scientific backmatter, this book is a must-have for budding scientists, best friends, and all adventurers. And it proves, as if proof were needed, what epic things can happen right in your own backyard.

How do bees count? The bees at the Busy Bee Farm buzz through the sky as one big swarm, fly over two waving dandelions, find three wild strawberries bursting with sweetness...As the children in Mr. Tate's class listen, they learn how bees work to produce honey and make food and flowers grow. Bees count-they're important to us all.

This delightfully simple lyrical text about the life of the honey bee is enhanced by bold, beautiful illustrations. Brilliant Bees includes an easy-to-read text, picture book art, and a question-and-answer section.

Sally is a young girl living in rural Alabama in the early 1900's, a time when people were struggling to grow food in soil that had been depleted by years of cotton production. One day, Dr. George Washington Carver shows up to help the grownups with their farms and the children with their school garden. He teaches them how to restore the soil and respect the balance of nature. He even prepares a delicious lunch made of plants, including "chicken" made from peanuts. And Sally never forgets the lessons this wise man leaves in her heart and mind. Susan Grigsby's warm story shines new light on an African American scientist who was ahead of his time.

Learn physics, chemistry and biology in your own backyard! At-home science provides an environment for freedom, creativity and invention that is not always possible in a school setting. In your own backyard, it's simple, inexpensive, and fun to whip up a number of amazing science experiments using the great outdoors. Science can be found all around in nature. Outdoor Science Lab for Kids offers 52 fun science activities for families to do together. The experiments can be used as individual projects, for parties, or as educational activities for groups. Outdoor Science Lab for Kids will tempt families to learn about physics, chemistry and biology in their backyards. Learn scientific survival skills and even take some experiments to the playground! Many of the experiments are safe enough for toddlers and exciting enough for older kids, so families can discover the joy of science together.

Do plants really move? Absolutely! Whether it's a sunflower, a Venus flytrap, or intriguingly exotic plants like an exploding cucumber, this fascinating picture book shows just how excitingly active plants really are.

A New York Times bestseller! Amazon Prime's Most Read Title of 2019! An Amazon Best Children's Book of the Month f rom the New York Times bestselling author of the Goodnight Already! series This is a book about a bad seed. A baaaaaaaaaad seed. How bad? Do you really want to know? He has a bad temper, bad manners, and a bad attitude. He's been bad since he can remember! This seed cuts in line every time, stares at everybody and never listens. But what happens when one mischievous little seed changes his mind about himself, and decides that he wants to be—happy? With Jory John's charming and endearing text and bold expressive illustrations by Pete Oswald, here is The Bad Seed: a funny yet touching tale that reminds us of the remarkably transformative power of will, acceptance, and just being you. Perfect for readers young and old, The Bad Seed proves that positive change is possible for each and every one of us.

Featured on Award-Winning Children's Literacy Site Storyline Online! Benedict has a pretty sweet life for a bear. Every morning the bees leave a jar of honey on his doorstep, and every day he has honey for breakfast and honey in his tea. It's an important part of his day. But all that changes when the bees go on strike. Now it's up to Benedict to listen to the bees, and he realizes there's a lot more he could be doing to help them. So he fixes up the hive and learns to be a better beekeeper. Will the bees be pleased?

Children explore the world of science through art with these open-ended experiments categorized by scientific topic. Hundreds of art activities amaze and delight children as they discover the magic of crystals, light, constellations, plants, and more. A unique approach to learning basic science concepts.

In this wondrous picture book bursting with mixed-media art, an imaginary garden is the center of a special relationship between a girl and her grandfather.

It's easy to appreciate a garden exploding with colorful flowers and fragrances, but what do you do with a patch of ugly vegetables? Author/illustrator Grace Lin recalls such a garden in this charming and eloquent story. The neighbors' gardens look so much prettier and so much more inviting to the young gardener than the garden of "black-purple-green vines, fuzzy wrinkled leaves, prickly stems, and a few little yellow flowers" that she and her mother grow. Nevertheless, mother assures her that "these are better than flowers." Come harvest time, everyone agrees as those ugly Chinese vegetables become the tastiest, most aromatic soup they have ever known. As the neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetable soup, the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose.

Young readers explore the basic needs of plants and organic gardening.

In this exuberant and lyrical follow-up to the award-winning Over and Under the Snow, discover the wonders that lie hidden between stalks, under the shade of leaves . . . and down in the dirt. Explore the hidden world and many lives of a garden through the course of a year! Up in the garden, the world is full of green—leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt exists a busy world—earthworms dig, snakes hunt, skunks burrow—populated by all the animals that make a garden their home.

Mara̕'s family are poor Honduran farmers, growing barely enough to eat. Then a new teacher comes to town and shows Mara̕ sustainable farming practices that yield good crops. An inspiring story, based on actual events, that shows us how farms and hopes are transformed as good gardens begin to grow.

A rabbit wanders through the various flowers and colors of a cottage garden.

The flower is the part of a plant that makes seeds or fruit. Readers will identify the main parts of a flower and learn about the process of pollination. Simple text and supportive photos and diagrams help students comprehend this important science concept.

Why do plants have flowers? Readers will discover how flowers can develop into fruits, vegetables, or seeds for producing more plants.

Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it's made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist? This delectable dessert comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn't survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots-they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as "Cocoa flowers can't bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots," explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels. Back matter includes information about cocoa farming and rain forest preservation, as well as an author's note.