SPRING GARDEN PROGRAM
Lesson 12

TRANSPLANTING SEEDLINGS INTO GARDEN
tomatoes, cucumbers

The Vegetables We Eat, Gail Gibbons

Objectives:

  • To become more familiar with, and adept at, transplanting seedlings started
    from seeds into the garden
  • To become more familiar with vegetables we might eat
  • To understand the different parts of the plant that we eat

MATERIALS

FOR ACTIVITY:
  • seedlings of a cool - season crop, either started indoors and ready for transplanting or bought
  • hand cultivators
  • trowels
  • watering can

INSTRUCTOR PREP:
  • Set out garden tools.
  • Decide where the plants and seeds will go.
  • Map out how the activities will unfold. In this session, teams of 2 or 3 children take turns planting seed
    and transplanting seedlings with one adult, while the other children hear story, accompanied by another
    adult. But they could just as easily engage in another garden-related activity that takes place near
    the garden, but not directly in it, for example, they could do a nature observation and draw or write
    in their journals.
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WARM UP

Go-round: Name a season you like and what you like about it.

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EXPLAIN TODAY'S ACTIVITIES

In many situations, the garden won't be large enough for all children to work at the same time. If that's
the case, divide the group into two or more teams. First one team works in the garden, while the other
team engages in another activity. Then the teams switch tasks. Here's one way to set it all in motion.
We have already transplanted some of our seedlings in the garden. As it becomes warmer outside we will
be able to transplant more of our seedlings until all of our seedlings are growling into mature plants
outside in our garden. It is now warm enough for our tomato and cucumber seedlings to live out side so today
we will transplant them. While half of us are working in the garden the other half will hear a book called The Vegetables We Eat.
This book will help us to understand which parts of the plant we eat. Then the two groups will switch activities.

ASK: Are bugs and Insects the same?
  • No

ASK: What is the difference?
  • An insect has 6 legs. A spider has 8 legs so it isn't an insect. A worm has no legs so it isn't an insect.

ASK: Can you name some insects?
  • Beetles, Bees...

When you examine the soil dwellers I have brought in today you can draw a picture of them in your journals.
If you don't recognize what it is you can look for it in the guidebooks.

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READ

But first I am going to read a book about worms. It is called "The Life Cycle of an Earthworm"

ASK: What does "Life Cycle" mean?
  • It refers to the stages of life

Distribute containers, paper plates and colored pencils to tables.

Review How to Handle Soil Dwellers

As you have discovered in earlier lessons, the creatures you are going to handle are easily harmed so you
must be very careful. When you remove a creature from one of the containers place it carefully on a paper
plate to examine it more closely. Then carefully return it to the container.

Give students their journals and invite them to begin their activity.

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