Spring is almost here and it’s a great time to teach your students or the kids in your program how to grow plants and gardens. Our EduCraft® Authentic Flower Garden Craft Kit comes with everything you need to grow your own Marigold flowers, plus we’ve included some educational lesson plans below to teach kids even more about how flowers grow.

Your Kit Contains:

• Plastic Pots
• Soil Pellets
• Marigold Seeds
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Teaching Guide with Complete Instructions

Age group: 4 and up
Project Time: 45 minutes

Download the easy printable guide here. 

Planting Your Marigolds

Instructor: 

Place soil pellets in a large pan or pail. Expand the soil pellets by adding 1 cup of water for each pellet. Wait for expansion to occur. You may want to add more water if the soil is too dry.

Participants:

1. Paint a design on the outside of the plastic pot. Let dry completely.
2. Fill the pots 1/2 way with soil. Water soil so it is damp.
3. Plant 2 to 3 seeds 1/4 inch deep in soil.
4. Measure and cut a piece of plastic wrap about 5 x 5 inches. Place plastic wrap over the top of each pot. Secure in place with a rubber band.
5. Place pots on windowsill with partial sunlight. Remove the rubber band and plastic wrap after the seeds have begun to sprout (about 5-6 days). Keep soil moist.
6. When plants are 1 inch tall, place pots in direct sunlight. Turn pots a little each day so the flowers receive equal sunlight. Keep the soil slightly damp at all times.

If you want this to be a 2 day project, have participants do Step 1 on the first day. Then follow the remainder of the instructions on the second day.

NOTE: Marigolds can be grown indoors year round, but they thrive in warm, sunny locations. You may want to place them outdoors in the summer months.

Educational Lesson Plans

Enhance your kids’ knowledge about plants and growing while also strenthening their skills in subjects like Science, Language Arts, Writing, and Math. You can download this Marigold Activity Sheet to help with the lessons.

Science

Objective: Recognize and label the parts of a flower.
Suggested Time Frame: 20-25 minutes
Additonal Materials: diagram of flower with labels, paper, crayons

Procedure: Before the lesson, make a large diagram of a flower with labels. Have the students draw a similar picture to the diagram. When finished, orally discuss the parts of the flower.

Science & Language Arts

Objective: Compare and contrast other seeds to the marigold seed.
Suggested Time Frame: 30 minutes
Additional Materials: a variety of seeds, chart paper, writing paper, magnifying lens

Procedure: Display a variety of seeds on a table or a piece of paper. It is important to get at least five or six different seeds. Seeds that are different sizes and colors are easier for the students to describe. Have the students orally describe each seed’s
characteristics and look through a magnifying lens. Record the students’ observations on the chart paper. Have the students write descriptive paragraphs about a particular seed without saying the seed’s name. When read to the class, see if the other students can identify which seed is being described.

Language Arts

Objective: Write a descriptive poem about flowers.
Suggestesd Time Frame: 35-40 minutes
Additional Materials: writing paper

Procedure: Brainstorm with the students a list of words that best describe the flower. Encourage the students to think about color, shape, and height when describing the flower. Make a list of words on the board for the students to use in their poems. The teacher may decide on a specific poetry style (for example: shape, name, limerick – a five line funny poem with lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyming and lines 3 and 4 rhyming, Haiku
– three line poem with 5 syllables in the first and last line and 7 syllables in the middle line). Have the students work in groups of three or four when writing the poem. When the poem is written, make a picture illustrating the poem.

Arts

Objective: Illustrate the growth of the flower using a variety of materials once a week for four weeks.
Suggested Time Frame: 30 minutes (once a week for four weeks)
Additional Materials: drawing paper, crayons, colored pencils, watercolors, chalk, tissue paper, chenille stems, felt, glitter, glue

Procedure: While looking at the marigolds, have the students illustrate their flower on paper using a variety of tactile materials. Have the students feel the petals and leaves to try to reproduce those textures on the paper. The illustration should be similar in size to the real flower. Label each page with the date and put the pages together to make
a chronological book of the marigold’s growth. A cover can be make with the title “The Growth of a Marigold.”

Arts & Writing

Objective: Make leaf and petal rubbings.
Suggested Time Frame: 30 minutes
Additional Materials: paper, crayons without paper.

Procedure: Carefully remove a few leaves and marigold petals from the plant. Have the students place the leaves and/or petals in a design on the table and place the paper carefully on top. Using the side of a crayon (without the paper wrapping), gently rub over the paper. The students can use different color crayons and different petals and/or
leaves to create a variety of designs. When the rubbings are completed, the children can add any other drawings to their paper. At the bottom of the paper, leave space for the students to write a sentence about their picture.

Spelling & Writing

Objective: Identify words beginning with f (flower) or m (marigold).
Suggested Time Frame: 30 minutes
Additional Materials: chart paper, writing paper

Procedure: Prior to the lesson, decide which letter (f for flower or m for marigold) the students will use. Brainstorm with the students lists of words beginning with f or m. Write the list of words on the chart paper. Encourage the students to come up with words that are nouns (people, places, and things), verbs (shows action) and adjectives (descriptive words). Have the students put words together to write silly sentences.
Illustrate the sentence.

Math

Activity 1:

Objective: Count the number of leaves in one pot and record the findings on a class graph.
Suggested Time Frame: 20 minutes
Additonal Materials: graph paper, markers

Procedure: On a large piece of graph paper, draw a graph with the title: LOTS OF LEAVES and the labels “number of leaves” and “student names.” Have the students carefully count the number of leaves in their pot. When recording the findings on the chart, help the students find their name and color up to the correct number. When all the
students have filled in their column on the chart, they can compare which pot has the most or the least number of leaves.

Activity 2:

Objective: Develop a prediction chart based on the growth of the marigold.
Suggested Time Frame: 30 minutes
Additonal Materials: paper

Procedure: Brainstorm with the students to develop questions that they would like to
know about the flower’s growth. Some example questions could be: How many days will it take for the first leaves to grow? How many leaves will be on one flower? What color will my flower be? Have each student write these questions on a piece of paper. On the right hand side of the paper, leave space for the students to write their predictions
and a space for the actual response. Have each student record their predictions then find the actual response. Some actual responses might not be able to be recorded for a few weeks.

This activity can also be used with older adults at a senior facility. Add this to your Spring Activity Calendar and have residents work together to create their Marigold garden.