Kindergarten Life Science Gardening

Introduction to Kindergarten Life Science Gardening

-Next Generation Science Standard* K-LS1-1

For this Next Generation Science* Gardening lesson, we planted a backyard garden.  Jack has helped for the past few years, but this time I made sure we discussed things that he should be familiar with when he studies science in Kindergarten.  Some of our discussions included, what do plants need in order to survive, why should you keep a garden journal every season, and how is it helpful to the environment if you plant your own vegetables?

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You can find a full lesson plan, activities, and assessment for this lesson at our Teachers Pay Teacher Store.

We used the book Strega Nona’s Harvest to complete the worksheets in the lesson.

Materials List for Kindergarten Life Science Gardening

–soaker hose
-large plastic containers (you can go to a landscaper and ask them for the containers trees and bushes come in)
–drill
-outdoor spray paint (optional)
–potting mix
–spade drill bit
-seeds of your choice
-tomato cages or bamboo stakes
–Our Backyard Garden Project lesson

Step 1: Download Our Backyard Garden Project lesson and complete the worksheets (you will need the book Strega Nona’s Harvest to complete the worksheets)

Here is a sample worksheet page from our Kindergarten Life Science Gardening Lesson:

Step 2: Gather your containers, drill, and soaker hose, drill holes in the top few inches of the containers on each side and run the hose through the holes (spray paint the containers now if you choose to do so)

We always plant a container garden because we have a system using a soaker hose  that makes it much easier to maintain than even a raised bed garden.

We drilled holes in sturdy outdoor pots with spade drill bit, then we put in high quality potting mix and ran the soaker hose through the holes.  This greatly decreased the amount of water we wasted while watering our plants and it made the chore of weeding almost non-existent.  We got this soaker hose idea from an awesome website called Garden Fork.  We got our pots from the people across the street when they were doing some landscaping and having trees planted.  You can probably get free pots that are sturdy enough by asking at your local garden center for the pots they usually throw away.  The pots were black, so we just spray painted them in pastel colors.

Step 3: Choose the seeds you are going to plant and add the potting soil to the containers, wet the soil thoroughly and plant the seeds as directed on the package

I try hard to not point it out, but Jack is an extremely picky eater.  I took him to the garden store and asked him to pick out the seeds he wanted to plant based on one criterion-that he would eat the veggies!  He picked out a few, including carrots, peas, and lettuce, and I picked out my herbs, like basil and mint.  Then we got to work planting.

Nana and poppy came over to help us set up the garden and make sure Lila didn’t get into any trouble.

Here are a few images of what the finished garden looked like:

This is an update on our garden after 7 days:

And finally…we have something to harvest!

Step 4: Complete the assessment from Our Backyard Garden Project

Here is a sample assessment page from our Kindergarten Life Science Gardening lesson:

NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

*”Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.”