Earth Day was on Monday, and we’ve honestly been feeling a bit cheated…since Easter fell the day before this year. We’ve been so busy lately with all of our Easter crafts and activities, that we were unable to really spend a lot of time on Earth Day crafts and activities. We didn’t want the important day to go unnoticed on Capturing Parenthood, so even though the holiday is officially behind us…we’ve decided to dedicate this entire week to our beautiful planet! We introduced you to some of our favorite Earth Day books in a surprise Monday post, shared our recycled castle project on Tuesday…and now, we’re Learning to Garden with Animal Grass Grow Kits!
As a little girl, I remember watching my dad pull homegrown radishes, turnips, and lettuce from our small garden. We did not grow much, since the growing season is rather limited in the Colorado mountains. But it was always fun to plant seeds in the springtime, and watch the veggies grow throughout the summer. When my husband and I purchased our house, we were thrilled to see two garden beds in the backyard. Our excitement only grew when we discovered the local garden store of our dreams! We’ve planted a garden every year since!
Growing our own fruits and vegetables is a benefit to both us and our planet. It’s just one of many ways to “Go Green!” Therefore, gardening is a skill that we want our little nugget to find an appreciation for as she grows older. She already has interest…she helps us plant seeds every Spring…and she loves picking the tomatoes when they’re ripe. But I wanted to find a way to provide her with her very own little garden to tend…a garden that she would be responsible for planting and watering…a garden where she could watch something grow right before her very eyes. And that’s when I stumbled upon these adorable Animal Grass Grow Kits at Target!
What a perfectly simple way to really introduce our daughter to the art of gardening! I purchased three kits – an elephant, tiger, and panda. Needless to say, our little nugget immediately fell in love with the grow pots. π Each kit also came with a soil pellet and some grass seed.
We started by placing each soil pellet into a small cup. Then, we added a few drops of water and sat back to watch the soil quadruple in size! We took each cup of soil, gently breaking it down with our fingers, and placed it into an animal grow pot. Then it was time to add the grass seeds. This was our little nugget’s favorite part!
We placed our little animal heads on a sunny windowsill and patiently waited for the grass to start sprouting – it only took a couple of days to start seeing green! Our little nugget made sure to water her planter pots (when needed) and we continued to watch them grow.
Once there was a substantial amount of grass, we broke out our handy-dandy ruler to see just how tall the grass had grown. It was a great opportunity to discuss the concept of measurements and height. We noted the height of the grass in each pot…and we compared the pots to see which one contained the tallest grass.
We set our planter pots back on the windowsill and checked back a few days later…to take height measurements, once again. After a couple of weeks of growth, it was time to give our animals a haircut! π Our little nugget carefully handled the scissors and happily cut the grass back down to about an inch in height. Then it was time to see how quickly the grass would grow back!
These little animal grass grow kits provided a wonderful multi-week experiment, as well as ample discussion on how things grow AND the importance of planting and gardening. Our daughter was thrilled to be the sole caretaker of her little animal garden…and she was super proud of how quickly the grass grew! And I think that she also thoroughly enjoyed playing hairdresser every couple of weeks. π
Giving our little nugget the opportunity to grow her very own successful little garden, made her that much more interested in planting and caring for brand new things in our backyard garden beds!
If you’re looking for some more fun and engaging Earth Day activities, make sure to check out our DIY Bird Feeders and our I Love the Earth – Foam Ball Craft!
