Spring will be in full bloom soon, and it’s a great time to help your students grow their math skills!
With garden-based activities like counting rows of plants or measuring out plots – they’ll be able to experience problem solving and other math skills hands-on.
Here are some math skills that your children can learn in the garden:
1. Counting
Little ones love counting everything, especially small items! Have them count leaves, plants, and seeds. They can group them into 2s and 3s, or in bigger numbers.
Counting opens up the discussion to addition and subtraction too. If we buy 2 more packs of seeds, how many packs will we have? How many seeds will we have in total? If we have 10 leaves but 4 have turned yellow, how many green leaves do we have left?
2. Comparison
Young children love sorting things too! Line up your plants in a row and introduce comparison words like big, bigger, and biggest. If you have measurements of the plants, introduce greater than and less than.
3. Measurements
By designing your garden plot, kids can learn about centimeters, feet, and yards. This is also a great opportunity to talk about conversions!
They can also learn about multiplication and division as they measure how much area the garden is and how many plants you have. If I have 3 plants and each need to be a foot apart, how much space will I need? If my garden plot is 12 feet wide, and I have 4 plants, how much space will I have in between plants? Will I have enough space?
4. Time
Seed packets usually have the days to maturity listed at the back. Take out a calendar and guide your child in calculating the harvest date. If it says 65 days, how many weeks is that? How many days will the plant be ready for harvest if we planted the seeds today?
5. Charts
To track your plants’ growth, measure them every week and record them in a chart. You can then use the chart to analyze which plant will grow the tallest. Introduce averages as well – what is the average height of a tomato plant at 6 weeks?
You can draw pictures of the plants onto a picture chart to compare how many tomato plants versus peppers you have, for example. Ask questions like – which plant do we have the most of? Which plants do we have the least? Questions like “Out of 8 plants, how many of them are tomato plants?” help students get introduced to fractions.
6. Money
When buying seeds at the store, have your child hold the money. As they pick what seeds to buy, ask them if they have enough to pay for it. How much change will they be given? Will they be able to save some of the money for another trip to the store in the future?
Print out our latest freebie to apply these math concepts in your garden:
Let those little minds stretch as we turn spring into an opportunity for teaching through gardens!
