Sunflower House and/or Tunnel

Ages 3 and up (one 45 minute session)

Objective:

To create a special place to play.
To create a sense of ownership and belonging in the garden.
To entice children into the garden.

Materials:

Sunflower transplants; Tall, medium and short varieties.

Set up:

Read The Sunflower House by Eve Bunting with the children.

Talk to them about creating a sunflower house in their garden like the one in the story. Suggest a sunflower tunnel. (Sunflowers can be planted to form circles, squares, a star, a heart, etc. Remember, the flowers will always orient themselves toward the afternoon sun).

Part One:

Have the children choose a pattern. You can use the same variety or height of sunflower, or combine plants of different sizes for a more lush appearance.

Part Two:

Use wooden labels or sticks to mark out the chosen design in the garden plot and to indicate where each plant should go. Set the labels approximately 1 to 1 ½ feet apart for medium density of plants. This will give ample room for the sunflowers to grow. You may want to leave extra space for the “door” to go in the house. Follow the Planting the garden activity. If direct seeding into the garden is planned, sow several seeds in each spot and thin out after germination. See table (3) for the proper seed planting times in your area).

Part Three:

If you planted the Mammoth sunflower variety, you can tie the flower heads together once the plants have grown tall enough to form a roof. If you planted the medium to dwarf varieties, you can make a roof of Morning Glories or pole beans which should be planted 2 inches from the sunflower plants once the sunflowers are approximately 12 inches tall. Make the vine support with twine by tying it from the base of the flower head of one sunflower to another, creating a web. For more detailed instructions on how to make the roof refer to the book Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy.

Part Four:

Once the sunflowers bloom, share a special picnic inside the house!

Questions to ask:

Why do we call them sunflowers? Even though they look like the sun, we call these plants sunflowers because their blossoms will track the sun’s movement.

How tall are our sunflowers?

Are we taller or shorter than the sunflowers?

Is the flower head one flower or many flowers?

Use a hand lens to show that a sunflower inflorescence is a composite of many individual flowers sitting together on a head.

Do we have other flowers in this same family in our garden? Marigolds for instance? Talk about plant families.