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Lesson Plans and Activities This page links you to all kinds of non 4-H youth gardening lesson plans and activities that are available on-line. http://www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats/ National Wildlife Federation¹s schoolyard habitats program has activities and other information on their web site. They also have an electronic newsletter that you can subscribe to for free. The Young Virginia Gardener activity sheets for elementary school students are available on-line for free printing. This program, provided by Virginia Tech Department of Horticulture, is divided into several series. Each series has a Teachers Guide and a set of activity sheets. National Gardening Association's Kids Gardening web site has all kinds of information, activities resources, and info on starting school gardens, grant resources, hydroponics, plant/insect interactions, how to dye with plant materials, and much more! There's a lot of information here if you explore a little. Featured articles Wisconsin's Fast Plants is a set of detailed lesson plans and experiments for exploring plant science at all age levels. Most activities use the fast-growing plants they sell in seed starting kits. You have to see the animation on their home page! This page from Cornell's gardening site includes complete lesson plans for eight different gardening craft projects from drying flowers to forcing bulbs and starting seeds. Science and Plants for Schools, from the University of Cambridge, has many things to offer including ready-to-print worksheets. Life Lab Science Program promotes environmental stewardship through a garden-based curriculum. Since their beginning in 1978, Life Lab has worked with over 1000 schools. HDRA's Organic Network for schools has a whole series of 'How To' sheets to download. They provide two versions: one for teachers/leaders and one for students. Topics covered include composting, creating a pond, vegetable gardening, mulching, controlling garden pests, and many more. The National Junior Horticultural Association has contests in many different areas, including production, display, marketing, speech making, environmental awareness, and more. See their web site for details and enrollment information. The Ithica Children's Garden site has lots to offer, including 'Plant Detectives' which provides information and lesson plans for exploring the world of plants. There is also a kids' version of Plant Detectives. This University of California at Davis web page has directions for two different science fair projects as well as links to other resources, like plant jigsaw puzzles and bad vegetable jokes! A 'How To' guide on school composting from New Hampshire. Also see the appendix to the guide. Exploring Classroom Hydroponics from the National Gardening Association provides all of the information you need to make your own hydroponic garden, including basic plant information and affordable ways to make your garden with recyclable materials. Directions for several hands-on experiments are also included. The Junior Master Gardener web site out of Texas A&M Growing in the Garden is a great web site that includes lesson plans for K-3, gardening news, resources, and links to other helpful sites. Green and Growing: From the Ground Up, from Green & Growing Environmental Education Projects Inc., provides complete lesson plans on agriculture and sustainable development. Michigan's Children's Garden web site provides some lesson ideas and resource links. There is also plenty here to keep children busy. A guide to the square foot gardening method gives full instructions for gardening in small areas, written for those with little to no experience. The Seeds of Change web site includes history, activity suggestions, and gardening advice. Green Teacher: Education for the Planet Earth. Subscribe to this publication, order back-issues or check out the list of articles and activities available free on-line. Preview the Woodsy Owl Activity Guide from the U.S. Forest Service. This guide is comprised of 12 different activities aimed at teaching children about environmental issues and stewardship. A shortened version of the Teacher's Guide is available to describe all 12 activities and the first activity is provided on-line. There is a $2 charge to order the entire activity guide. The California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom provides several units of lesson plans on-line for printing. Each unit is composed of a whole series of lesson plans that integrate science, math, English, art, and many other subject areas! Listed below are each of the units and their targeted age group. These are big files, so each one may take up to 10 minutes to fully download. The links below will allow you to read the abstracts for each unit before downloading. Click here to read the abstracts of and download these units: The Mysterious Plant Caper (K-1) The Invaders (K-3) Tree to Table (K-3) Edible Plant Parts (2-3) Simple and Complex Machines Used in Agriculture (2-5) What Do Plants Need to Grow? (2-4) Edible Numbers (2-8) Click here to read the abstracts of and download these units: Fruits and Vegetables for Health (4-6) Invasion of the Medfly (4-6) What's Bugging You? (4-6) Where'd You Get Those Genes? (5-7) Click here to read the abstracts of and download these units: How Much Is Too Much? How Little Is Too Little? (nutrients, 5-8) Starting All Over Again (The Cycles of Nature) (6-8) From Genes to Jeans (7-9) Where'd You Get Those Genes? (5-7) Click here to read the abstracts of and download these units: The Interrelationships of Soil, Water, and Fertilizers and How They Affect Plant Growth (9-12) The Chemistry of Fertilizers (10-12) Genetic Engineering in Agriculture (10-12)