Flowers- Nutrients for Growth
A fun Spring lesson! Just like flowers need nutrients to grow- we also need the right nutrients to help our body, mind & spirit grow healthy & strong!
Educational Framework: Heart for God & Heart for Creation
“Flowers- Nutrients for Growth” Unit: Spring into Growth
LESSON PURPOSE: Just like flowers need certain nutrients for growth- we also need nutrients for our physical & spiritual bodies to grow!
MATERIALS: Flowers, pots, soil, seeds, Picture Book, learning toys, craft supplies
BOOKS: Story about Flowers!
SONG IDEAS: Song of the Garden, He’s Got the Whole World, By the Spring of Life, You Are My Sunshine
SENSORY CENTERS:
Playdoh Flowers- Make flowers out of playdoh. Provide pipe cleaners, leaves, flower petals, flower cookie cutters etc
Garden Sensory Bin- Fill a bin with beans (for dirt) fake flowers, shovels & pots. Children can “plant” the flowers!
Flower sorting- sort fake flowers in to different colors.
Spring Sensory Bin: Easter eggs, grass, bugs, butterflies, fairies, dirt etc
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.” -Song of Solomon 2:11-12
“Spring is the symbol of hope... Of course, spring is the season of flowers blooming, sending out their fragrance and beauty. The birds and butterflies dance around.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
“Nevertheless our spirit should be strong and stable so we can digest our food properly and distribute the nutrients to our body.” -Sun Myung Moon
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: Song of the Garden, He’s Got the Whole World, By the Spring of Life, You Are My Sunshine
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
Last week we learned about the 4 Seasons that God made. (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) Which Season is it now? It’s Spring! That’s right! It’s the Season of new life & growth. Has anyone heard of this saying before: “April showers bring May flowers!”? Today we are going to learn all about beautiful flowers!
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1:
Show flowers: bring some real flowers. Have children smell them, feel them, talk about their different parts- stem, leaves, petals. You can sort them by color or size. There are many different kinds of flowers like tulips, roses, daisies, lilies, sunflowers etc. What is your favorite? Does anyone know how flowers start out?
INTRO:
Flowers begin as a tiny seed! Show a seed. You can plant the seed in a small pot of dirt.
CHOOSE 1 OR 2: READ A STORY, SING A SONG OR POEM, WATCH A VIDEO: *Use this before or during your teaching point.
VIDEOS: click on the link for educational, sing along or dance videos
SONGS:
Can You Plant a Bean Fun Movement Song about planting a bean by DanceandandBeatsLab
It’s a Beautiful Day Sweet children’s song with beautiful illustrations of nature by Sim
Sing a Song of Flowers- Sing along about different colored flowers by The Kiboomers
EDUCATIONAL:
The Needs of a Plant- Fun educational song on things plants need to grow by Harry Kindergarten Music
Parts of a Plant/The Dr.Binocs Show- Fun educational video by Peekaboo Kids
READ ALOUD STORY:
Plant the Tiny Seed- Read Aloud Video by The Storytime Family
SONG OR POEM:
The Flower Song Do you know the Muffin Man?
Curl up like a tiny seed, tiny seed, tiny seed. Warm sun is what you need. Now you can start growing.
Drink the rain and start to rise, Start to rise, start to rise. Stretch up tall, arms opened wide. Now a flower’s showing.
Flower Garden The Farmer in the Dell
The farmer plants the seeds. The farmer plants the seeds. Hi-Ho the cheery-O. The farmer plants the seeds!
The sun begins to shine. The sun begins to shine. Hi-Ho the cheery-O. The sun begins to shine!
The rain begins to fall...
The plants begin to grow...
The flowers smile at us...
*TEACH the Lesson:
Discuss the following points together, asking children questions, drawing pictures, using anchor charts or post it notes.
TEACHING POINT 1: Nutrients for Growth
Flowers HAVE- When a seed is planted it grows in to a sprout which then creates roots, a stem, leaves and flower petals! The flower drinks water through its roots.
Flowers NEED- What are things that flowers need to grow? Soil/dirt, sunlight, water (rain, watering can) & air! (Bees also help to pollinate flowers!) In order for a flower to grow from a tiny seed in to a beautiful blooming flower- it needs all of these nutrients.
Did you know that just like flowers need nutrients to grow- we also need nutrients to grow!
TEACHING POINT 2: How We Grow *OPTIONAL EXTENSION
Our Body- Just like flowers- we also need things to grow! What do we need for our body to grow healthy and strong? Healthy food, water, vitamins, sleep, exercise, baths, brushing our teeth…
Our Mind- How can we help our minds to grow? By learning to count, learning letter names and sounds, learning about animals, weather, science and more! We can learn in school from a teacher or from a grown up like mom or dad. Through studying new things with our mind we can grow a healthy brain! Wow!
Our Spirit/Heart/Soul- Our Spirit Body also needs things to help it grow! We need a positive environment to grow our heart in! We need love, God’s Words (hdh, Bible, DP, Sunday School), positive uplifting music (like holy songs or worship), kind friends and healthy habits like prayer. All of these things help us to grow a strong and healthy spirit.
Discussion Questions:
Why do we want our bodies to grow? It’s God’s natural design! We want to grow healthy and strong so we can learn and try new things. For example, if we stayed a baby forever- we wouldn’t be able to do all the fun things we can do now like skip, jump, talk and share!
Why do we want our mind to grow? So we can learn a lot of new things each day and be successful in school! Through learning more we can do more. By learning to read we can read street signs and cupcake recipes. By learning to count we can go shopping or save money to buy a toy. Learning new information helps our brains grow smarter and helps us to one day use our talents and become a teacher, scientists or astronaut!
Why do we want our spirits to grow? Our heart and spirit and mind guide all of our decisions. So we want to make sure that our Spirit is centered on God and receiving positive nutrients! We want to surround our spirit with God’s love and Word so that we can make the best decisions and grow our Spirit so that is bright, shiny and beautiful!
CONCLUSION:
In Springtime, beautiful flowers grow! Flowers need soil, sunlight, air and water to grow! We also need nutrients to grow in to healthy boys and girls. And to grow our heart/Spirit- we need God’s love and words. We want to grow beautifully inside and out just like the flowers grow!
TITHING & PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent, we thank you for the colorful flowers that grow in Spring! Thank you for each tiny seed that becomes a beautiful plant, tree or flower! We are grateful for the pretty nature and we want to grow in to beautiful sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Parent! Amen. Aju!
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1 :
Flower Measurement: Measure each child standing tall against a wall. Use green painters tape or some string and tape it to the wall to match the child’s height! Add their paper flower craft on top creating a garden of class flowers that have grown as tall as all the children!
Sorting Activity: Have some flowers from outside. Have children help you sort the parts of a flower in to different cups: stem, leaves, petals.
CRAFTS: choose 1
Plant a Seed- Provide each child with a small pot (or cup), some dirt, a shovel (or spoon), seeds and watering can. Have children decorate their flower pots & plant seeds! Water them regularly, give sunlight and have children watch them grow at home or in the classroom!
Paint with Flowers- Have children paint with flowers! Gently holding the stem of a flower and spread the petals in the paint!
Egg Carton Flowers- Cut egg cartons in to sections of 4. Have children paint them with watercolors and glue them on to a paper to create a flower. Add a stem, dirt, sky & sun.
SNACK IDEAS:
Dirt Cups: chocolate pudding covered with oreo crumbs & gummy worms. Yum!
Fruit Flowers: pre cut fruits formed in to flower shapes!
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community
