OUT OF THE HOUSE AND INTO THE GARDEN
Summer is a time when
your child can enjoy being in the garden; a place where your child can be
imaginative and creative; e.g. making dens from old sheets; using things found
in the garden to make pictures, weaving with sticks and painting stones. The
garden is also a great place for your child to develop their understanding of
life cycles, food chains, the parts of a plant and how plants grow and practice
their classifying and grouping skills; all of which are part of the primary
science curriculum.
Having a small garden
plot or just a few pots on the patio to tend to gives a child a sense of
responsibility. If you do not have any
seeds try re-growing plants from scraps, e.g. place carrot tops or potato
peelings with eyes in a sauce of water.
Plastic bottles and food containers can be recycled and decorated by your child to make
unique plant containers. Children may
enjoy measuring and recording the growth of their seeds, using graphs, photos
or sketching the seeds as they grow.
Your child may enjoy
planting seeds that attract wildlife, feeding birds and creating wildlife
homes, such as an insect habitat made with a tube by using a recycled plastic
bottle filled with twigs. Encourage your
child to research for other ideas; either in the library, using the Internet or
by visiting a garden centre. Other
garden activities could include looking for mini-beasts (insects) under stones,
or going on a nature hunt, using an egg box or card with double sided tape to
collect items such as different shades of green.
Perhaps try some garden
experiments e.g. observing the water cycle by drawing
with chalk around a puddle every 10 minutes; investigating what melts in the
heat; or placing a leaf into a jar of water with food colouring in and watch
the leaf change colour. Your child may also enjoy recording the weather and the
phases of the moon, using pictures, words or graphs.
The garden gives your
child experience of science in action.
