Gardening With Children Book List

With the oncoming spring, of course my mind has turned to gardening with the kids. In fact, I figured that it would tie in beautifully with the Serendipity botany studies. Speaking of which, we are starting over with the Serendipity studies, just so that we can take advantage of Spring and Summer to do those botany pages :)

In my hunt for kid friendly garden stuff, I ran across several books I thought were lovely, and that all gardeners might just like to hear about!

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy

This is a lovely book. It has several garden plans and ideas for educational activities with the kids. You will often see it recommended for these reasons :) Take for instance the pizza garden… made with pizza ingredients, looking like a pizza and with several follow-up activities to go along with it!

Sunflower Houses by Sharon Lovejoy

Another lovely book, it does cover a lot of the same ground as the one mentioned above. If you can only get one, just get Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, as it is definitely the better one of the two… but if you can get both, definitely do so :)

Honeysuckle Sipping by Jeanné Chesanow

This book is extraordinary! It is a compilation of tales of childhood plant lore and activities. I am sure you will recognize some of the things you did with plants and flowers as a child… I know I did ;) It is a very charming read, highly recommended!

Gardening Wizardry for Kids by Patricia Kite, Yvette Santiago Banek

A cute book, full of experiments and facts and gardening fun. It is whimsically illustrated with cartoon like pictures, but don’t let that disturb you! The content is more than worthy of the purchase price. The experiments vary from the typical “watch seeds grow” to more unique ideas.

Hollyhock Days : Garden Adventures for the Young at Heart by Sharon Lovejoy

I love the Sharon Lovejoy books for her lovely watercolour pictures, and the charming folklore and ideas she brings back to life for the modern child. As always, her books are worth getting :)

Shanleya’s Quest by Thomas J. Elpel

This was a suggestion of Rebecca’s, but I was on board because I had discovered Elpel’s Botany in a Day a few years ago, and loved it. Shanleya’s Quest is more for the kids though :) Follow along with Shanleya as she learns about the different plant families.

The Burgess Flower Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

The Burgess Flower book, is just as delightful as the other Burgess books. Like his Animal and Bird books, this is another tale of Peter Rabbit learning about the world around him... this time Peter notices the onset of spring through the world of flowering plants. Especially delightful are the plants that you will recognise from your own garden and nature walks!

I will try to keep this post updated with the new books I find ;)