A Rainbow of Colorful Flowers and Vegetables

Ages 3 and up (two to three 45 minute sessions)

Objectives:

To introduce the concept of planning a garden using the colors in a rainbow.
To associate colors of plants (flowers and vegetables) with the colors in the rainbow.

Materials:

Chalkboard or Some large marking surface to draw designs on.
Plants and seeds.
Non toxic water based exterior paints
Large rocks
Smocks and paint brushes
Stepping stones

Set up:

Gather stones for painting. Make stepping stones. Buy a large assortment of colorful flowering plants.

Part One:

Have the children discuss what they would like their rainbow garden to look like (Section 2.2). Make drawings of different rainbow designs on the chalkboard to show the choices available. A vote may be necessary to come to an agreement between many children.

Talk about the different flowers and plants available to create their rainbow garden.

Talk about how they can use lots of one flower to create parts of the rainbow; like all white flowers for clouds. Don’t limit the plan to plants. Talk about adding artwork to their rainbow. Artwork can fill in spaces that may occur throughout the season. Stepping stones and painted rocks work well. Transfer the design to a large piece of poster board to use as a reference when you go outside.

Part Two:

Get to it!

Use the appropriate activities in section 2 and let the children plant the garden, using the poster board reference as their guide.

Part Three:

Set the children up with the paints, smocks, rocks and paint brushes. After they are painted and dry, place them throughout the planted garden.

Questions:

What are the colors in a rainbow?

What flowers or vegetables can we use to have all the colors of the rainbow in our garden?

Do we want to have clouds at the end of each side of the rainbow?

Why are flowers different colors?

Flowers have different pigments that give them different colors. What is a pigment?

Why is being colorful beneficial to flowers?