Budding gardeners will learn what it takes to make things grow with fun activities that require only readily available materials.
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“Fun and creative.” —BC Parent
"Useful." —earlychildhoodnews.com
About the Author
Laurie Carlson is the author of Colonial Kids, Westward Ho!, More Than Moccasins, and Kids Camp! She has taught preschool, primary grades, and children’s art classes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By T. Chenn
Format:Paperback
We just received this book, and I am excited to try out a few of the ideas with my young children. However, I am a little surprised and disappointed by some of the experiments. The author goes into great detail discussing how to grow a "Mold Plant" from a slice of bread, and how to grow a "Yeast Plant" from baker's yeast. Mold and Yeast are from the Kingdom Fungi, not the Plant Kingdom. Also, it states that Algae is a plant. That is sometimes true, but not always. Some are grouped into the Kingdom Protista instead of the Plant Kingdom (bc they are not multicellular, yet they are still photosynthetic). If you are teaching your child about different kingdoms and scientific classifications this could be very confusing (and misleading)...especially since recent research has actually determined that Fungi are closer genetically to animals than to plants....but I digress.
I believe that many parents purchased this book in hopes of using it as an educational resource. It is even listed in "The Well Trained Mind" as recommended reading for science education. More fact checking needs to go into the next edition!
I believe that many parents purchased this book in hopes of using it as an educational resource. It is even listed in "The Well Trained Mind" as recommended reading for science education. More fact checking needs to go into the next edition!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love this book. Yes, much of the information can be found online, but I wouldn't have thought to look up some of these things.
If you're already an experienced gardener, this book may be a waste of time, but if you're a beginner and want to get your kids involved, it's great for motivating the 'budding' gardener.
This book is full of ideas for making gardening tools and materials using everyday household objects, like empty milkjugs (you can do many things with those!), muffin tins, 2-liter bottles, egg cartons, etc. There are recipes for natural, homemade bug sprays, pest strips, composting, and more.
I found it informative as well. There are bits of information about butterflies and how to attract them, weeds, worms, pests, helpful plants(what grows well with what) and critters, growing plants from leaf cuttings, tasty recipes using things you've grown, making herbed butter, starting your outdoor garden, growing seedlings indoors, making birdfeeders, gourd rattles, catnip bags, and lots more good stuff...and all using things you have around the house.
A great resource for the beginners and kids who like crafty things.
If you're already an experienced gardener, this book may be a waste of time, but if you're a beginner and want to get your kids involved, it's great for motivating the 'budding' gardener.
This book is full of ideas for making gardening tools and materials using everyday household objects, like empty milkjugs (you can do many things with those!), muffin tins, 2-liter bottles, egg cartons, etc. There are recipes for natural, homemade bug sprays, pest strips, composting, and more.
I found it informative as well. There are bits of information about butterflies and how to attract them, weeds, worms, pests, helpful plants(what grows well with what) and critters, growing plants from leaf cuttings, tasty recipes using things you've grown, making herbed butter, starting your outdoor garden, growing seedlings indoors, making birdfeeders, gourd rattles, catnip bags, and lots more good stuff...and all using things you have around the house.
A great resource for the beginners and kids who like crafty things.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I never knew milk jugs were so versatile! They can me made into shovels, totes, watering cans, scarecrows, bird-feeders... This book offers creative, inexpensive ways to teach kids about gardening and plants in general. What a great way to learn!
All the lessons involve a hands-on activity, not just for fun, but for learning. Kids learn how plants absorb water by putting food-coloring in the water of a cut white carnation. Kids learn that some birds help plants by eating bugs, but some birds eat fruit; hence, the milk-jug scarecrow. Seeds are sprouted in a baggy in a window to demonstrate roots, stem, leaves, and how it all starts. Then, of course, there is plenty of standard gardening activities: starting seeds indoors in paper egg-cartons, planting outdoors after frost, watering, composting, mulching... There are a few ideas I never would have thought of, for instance, collecting different seeds around the neighborhood just to watch the ways different weeds sprout and grow--in containers, of course.
This book has a very organic approach to gardening, teaching kids to maintain topsoil, make bug-spray from garlic...
I anticipate that my kids will be quite educated about plants and gardens by the time we finish this book. I also expect that my yard will look quite littered with milk jugs. But I'm glad this is not just a book about cutesy activities with plants. Real educational projects are usually a little messy; in this case, milk-juggy.
All the lessons involve a hands-on activity, not just for fun, but for learning. Kids learn how plants absorb water by putting food-coloring in the water of a cut white carnation. Kids learn that some birds help plants by eating bugs, but some birds eat fruit; hence, the milk-jug scarecrow. Seeds are sprouted in a baggy in a window to demonstrate roots, stem, leaves, and how it all starts. Then, of course, there is plenty of standard gardening activities: starting seeds indoors in paper egg-cartons, planting outdoors after frost, watering, composting, mulching... There are a few ideas I never would have thought of, for instance, collecting different seeds around the neighborhood just to watch the ways different weeds sprout and grow--in containers, of course.
This book has a very organic approach to gardening, teaching kids to maintain topsoil, make bug-spray from garlic...
I anticipate that my kids will be quite educated about plants and gardens by the time we finish this book. I also expect that my yard will look quite littered with milk jugs. But I'm glad this is not just a book about cutesy activities with plants. Real educational projects are usually a little messy; in this case, milk-juggy.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth the cost
After reading about this book in "The Well-Trained Mind", I was curious to read it before purchasing it as it is, in my opinion, pricy for such a thin book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Michelle Jean
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Book
Green Thumbs is an easy to understand and fun activity book. Not only do my children enjoy the book, my husband and I have found serveral creative ways to garden.
Published on July 14, 2009
2.0 out of 5 stars
Neat, but you could think of this things on your own.
It was a neat idea, but really anyone could have written this book. An internet search could have taken care of the entire book. Save your money.
Published on January 10, 2007 by Choose the Right
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