Gifts from the Earth

Plant Based Crafts

In the Garden

Note: PDF files require a pdf document viewer, such as Acrobat. Links to PDF files and other websites will open new browser windows. Download Acrobat.

Our language is riddled with plant-related words and phrases:

• Family roots
• They're blossoming
• Cool as a cucumber
• Putting down roots
• Thin as a twig
• Rosy cheeks
• How many more can you think of?

We are dependent on plants for much more than food! Plants produce:

• Oxygen
• Fuels
• Medicines
• Cosmetics
• Paper Products
• Building Materials
• Fibers
• Spices
• And so much more

• Growing Flowers (PDF, 390 KB)
  Grow Lab
  National Gardening Association. Knox Parks Foundation, 1988.
  Grade: K-6
• Growing Herbs (PDF, 152KB)
  Grow Lab
  National Gardening Association. Knox Parks Foundation, 1988.
  Grade: K-6
• Herbs (PDF, 136 KB)
  Children's Gardens
  Bremner, Elizabeth and John Pusey. UC Cooperative Extension, 1990.
  Grade: 4-6
  CA State Standards: Science 4th Grade: 4.3c; Science 5th Grade: 5.6a
• Create a Human Sundial
  Find out how to order directions for your latitude at www.needham.k12.ma.us or follow the plans of this detailed multi-month project at www.evergreen.ca
  Grade: 4-6
• Cornell University's Garden Based Learning website
  Natural dyeing, creating musical instruments, wreaths and rose petal beads: www.hort.cornell.edu/gbl/planting/activities
  Drying flowers, making potpourri, catnip toys and more: www.hort.cornell.edu/gbl/planting/hortandyouth
  
• Plant Dyeing
  Your classroom garden, vacant lot, school grounds, and local grocery store can provide fuel for investigating the ways in which plants have enriched and continue to color our world. In doing so, your students can explore plants up close, design inquiry investigations, explore chemistry concepts, and have an intriguing lens for learning about history and other cultures. www.garden.org

In the Classroom

• Collecting Plants: A Pressing Project
  National Gardening Association
  Grade: 4-6
  CA State Standards: Science 4th Grade: 4.3b, c; History 4th Grade: 4.2.5; Science 5th Grade: 5.6a; History 5th Grade: 5.1.1, 2; Science 6th Grade: 6.5c, e; History 6th Grade: 6.1.3
• Cornhusk Doll
  The Old Farmer's Almanac
  Grade: 4-6
  CA State Standards: History 4th Grade: 4.2.5; History 5th Grade: 5.1.1, 2
• Cotton Commodity and Natural Resource Fact and Activity Sheet
  California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, 2006.
• Cotton Into Jeans (PDF, 1 MB)
  Cotton's Journey—A Field Trip on a Box
  The Alaca Company, 2001.
  www.cottonsjourney.com
  Grade: 4-6
  CA State Standards: Science 4th Grade: 4.2a, 4.3b, 4.6c-f; Science 5th Grade: 5.2a, e-g,  5.6d-g; History 5th Grade: 5.1.1,  5.2.1-4, 5.4.1, 6, 5.5.1; Science 6th Grade: 6.5e, 6.7a-e
• Dyeing to Find Out: Extracting Nature's Colors
  National Gardening Association
  CA State Standards: History 4th Grade: 4.2.5; History 5th Grade: 5.1.1, 2
• Terrraniums (PDF, 434 KB)
  Grow Lab
  National Gardening Association. Knox Parks Foundation, 1988.
  CA State Standards: Science Kindergarten; K.2c; Science 1st Grade: 1.2b, e; Science 2nd Grade: 2.2e; Science 3rd Grade: 3.3a-c
• Topping It Off With Sprouts (PDF, 197 KB)
  Grow Lab
  National Gardening Association. Knox Parks Foundation, 1988.

Taking it Further

• Students write or draw about the different ways people use plants.
• Students investigate how ancient cultures depicted or used plants in their artwork.
• When European explorers set out in the 16th century to discover parts unknown, they often returned with samples of plants they had found along the way. As this collection of treasures grew, botanic gardens were hard pressed to keep living samples. So, botanists devised a solution: create a collection of pressed plants that are clearly labeled with name and place of origin. Students research explorers' plant discoveries.

Resources

Children's Literature

• Compestine, Ying Chang. The Story of Paper. Holiday House, 2003.
  Learn about the accidental creation of paper when Ting, Pan, and Kuai try to create something for teachers to write on. (Grade K-3)
• Hughes, Meredith Sayles. Flavor Foods: Spices and Herbs. Lerner Publications, 2000.
  This fun-filled book provides information on leaves, fruits, bark, flowers, pods, and seeds that give us the aromatic odds and ends that people call seasonings. (Grade 4-adult)
• James, Felix. From Field to Florist. National Geographic, 2001.
  This nonfiction primary reader has colorful photographs that show how flowers get from the field to the florist. (Grade K-3)
• L'Hommedieu, Arthur John. From Plant to Blue Jeans. Children's Press, 1998.
  Through colorful photographs and simple text, learn how cotton is grown and processed into clothing. (Grade 4-6)
• Rudolph, Marguerita. How a Shirt Grew in the Field Mcgraw-Hill, 1967.
  This lovely story tells of a boy waiting for his mother to sew him a new shirt. First she has to grow, harvest, dry and spin the flax into cloth!

For Teachers

• Commodity and Natural Resource Fact and Activity Sheets
  California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom
  Learn about California flowers, cotton and more.
• Dyeing to Get Started: Details for Growing Classrooms
  Pranis, Eve. National Gardening Association.
  
• Ethnobotany: The People/Plant Connection
  Pranis, Eve. National Gardening Association.
• Food Plant Life Stories: Exploring Colorful Histories
  Pranis, Eve. National Gardening Association.
• The Garden's Role in Your Classroom (PDF, 1.8 MB)
  Grow Lab
  National gardening association. Knox Parks Foundation, 1988.
• Herbal Adventure
  Pranis, Eve. National Gardening Association.
• What's Growin' On?
  California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, 2005.
  This 16-page newspaper highlights the many careers and agricultural products of California. Activities, trivia, readings, and graphics are sprinkled throughout providing a connection for every learner. Many activities are aligned to the Content Standards for California Public Schools.