The Carrot Seed
A Seed for Learning
Princess Pea will soon be five (yikes!), and has been talking a lot about starting school (though she won't start until she's 6). So I've been bringing home books from school that go together as a theme that we can talk and learn about. We've been calling it 'school' - she loves to have 'school time' - it makes her feel like such a big kid! This is protected time for just her and me - Daddy Pea takes Sweet Pea to do something else, so we can have this time alone together.
We've been having beautiful, summery weather lately, so Princess Pea and I have been making a habit a couple of times a week to sit in the garden and read and talk together after I get home from work.
This week, we read about how plants grow.
We started by reading The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss [affiliate link]. (Thanks to Kristina at Toddler Approved for this Virtual Kids Book Club suggestion!)
Princess Pea was very interested in why the carrot isn't visible on the plant when it finally grows. We talked a lot about the parts of a plant - roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds - and how we can eat the different parts: carrots are roots, lettuces are leaves, peas are seeds, etc. We consulted a non-fiction book, The Seed by Christine Young [affiliate link], to see how the different parts of the plant grow and the life cycle of a plant.
Then we reread a current fiction favourite, The Pea Blossom by Amy Lowry Poole [affiliate link], which tells the sweet story of a pea from the time it is in its pod to when it grows into a plant with pods and peas of its own, and how it inspires a sick little girl to get better.
Then we read another non-fiction book, Carrots by Gail Saunders-Smith [affiliate link]. In it, we see all the steps involved in how the carrot goes from seed to carrot to dinner. Princess Pea loves to help make dinner and after reading the book she really wanted to help cook some carrots for dinner. Unfortunately, we were out of carrots. So we had a cucumber instead. I taught her how to peel it by herself and she was so excited to be really helping!
Afterwards, we talked about who else likes to eat carrots - bunnies, of course! And we went on a bunny hunt in the garden! I had some bunny cut-outs left over from our Easter Egg Hunt party, so I hid them in the garden and she had to find them - all while hopping like a bunny! (I didn't realize it at the time, but this activity totally reminds me of the rabbit-themed Garden Hunt that Abbie from Greening Sam and Avery guest posted here on Mama Pea Pod last summer.)
Then we had a little treat - a marzipan carrot that the Easter Bunny had left!
Finally, I got her to pick the dandelions from the garden (a great way to do the weeding!) - which she used to form a letter C for carrot!
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