Starting us off strong, we got the Montessori By Mom kit for plants. It included seeds and pots for planting and a few extras to build your shelves to get the conversation started. One of my favorite pieces was the bean life cycle model which paired up perfectly with the “cut-outs” below.

This lifecycle of a bean chart is a fantastic way to strengthen connections – a 2D comparison to the 3D model above.

3 Part Cards are a traditional addition to a Montessori classroom that can easily be added to your unit study shelves. You can make these cards yourself or find an endless supply online. The “Parts of a Flower” cards below match the Montessori puzzle for more repetition. I found these cards on Etsy and printed them on cardstock and laminated them to lengthen their shelf-life.

I’ve talked about Twinkl before, an easy to use all-in-one lesson plan database. These sequencing cards were simple to make with velcro dots for repeated use.

Another Twinkl find, plant and seed matching cards. I like these because of their clear images for easy identification. (Pardon the poor printing- this was before I found HP Instant Ink (not sponsored, just highly recommended))

There is a plethora of these “cut and stick” activities for the parts of a flower. I, however, made mine to be reused year after year because, let’s be honest, this is one of those topics that will need repetition in years to come.

The Montessori tree puzzle is one of our most loved resources for this topic of study. Though they are not pictured, we also have the 3 part cards that reinforce learning the parts of a tree. I believe I found them on Etsy from the same vendor as the flower.

If you are studying sign language, Signing Time has printable resources that accompany their videos. I picked out the cards that were relevant to our study and we used them for review.

The Gathering a Garden board game is gorgeous and easy enough to understand for kids as young as preschool. With that said, I don’t know how long my kids will be interested in playing this game. In this game, you move around the board and gather the pieces needed to complete your garden. There isn’t much strategy involved, so I don’t know if this game will make it passed lower elementary. If you are looking for something to play with very little kids around the topic, it will be easy enough for them to grasp, but may lose appeal over time.

Finally, bringing some variation in texture and materials for littles to explore can get them interested in exploring more outdoors. These came from the wonderful Montessori by Mom kit, but you can always go on a nature walk and find your own treasures….just remember to heat them in the oven so you aren’t also inviting in little critters….their study is for another day.

We connected this lesson to literature with the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. If you like the learn-through-literature approach, check out the post here to see the perfect pairing and to spark ideas on what to teach next!