Hands on family: gardening lab for kids

A refreshing source of ideas to help your children learn to grow their own patch of earth, Gardening Lab for Kids encourages children to get outside and enjoy nature. This fun and creative book features 52 plant-related activities set into weekly lessons, beginning with learning to read maps to find your heat zone, moving through seeds, soil, composting, and then creating garden art and appreciating your natural surroundings.

Author Renata Fossen Brown guides your family through fun activities that are also lessons about botany, ecology, the seasons, food, patience, insects, eating, and cooking. Have fun exploring: pollinators by making a pollinator palace out of bricks, sticks, twigs, bamboo, and pegboard. the basic elements of soil—sand, silt, and clay—by testing how well your soil drains with just a shovel, water, ruler, and timer. color theory by creating a table top color wheel from different colored annuals. native birds by making a bird feeder from an old picture frame and piece of screen. Gardening Lab for Kids is the perfect book for creative families, friends, and community groups and works as lesson plans for both experienced and new gardeners. Children of all ages and experience levels can be guided by adults and will enjoy these engaging exercises. So, slip on your muddy clothes, and get out and grow!

The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.