Grow a Butterfly Garden

Age: Preschool and up
Time: An afternoon or more
Type of activity: Nature Arts and Crafts

Grow a Sunflower House!

This article is brought to you in association with our partner, Garden.com.

By Diana Dickinson Davis

Pressed-Flower Place Mats

Materials

1. Fresh flowers
2. Old phone book
3. Self-adhesive plastic

Directions

Aquarium Terrarium

An Imagination Station Activity

Age: 8 and up
Time: 2 - 3 hours or less
Type of Activity: Science

Materials needed:

Growing Peanuts

Materials

• Glass or plastic container (about six inches wide and four inches deep)
• Potting soil or earth without lumps
• Sand
• Fresh, unroasted peanuts in the shell
• Water

Directions

Raising "Green" Kids

Teach Your Children About the Environment!

A Spring Storybook

Time: An hour or more
Type of activity: Reading and writing, arts and crafts

Celebrate the coming of spring by telling a story about the season!

Plant names are often adorable and simple, which is why many of these names are growing in popularity. While they refer to a plant or nature, some of them have other meanings as well, making them even more special to use as baby names.

More: 75 Earthy Boy Names for Your Little One

Family Gardening Tips

Cynthia Davis Klemmer, the Children's Education Coordinator at theMassachusetts Horticultural Society, suggests these gardening activity tips for families:

• Start small. Window boxes or containers, because of their smallsize, can actually turn out to be rather luxurious gardens. Recycle clean bleach and milkcontainers. Cut off the tops and use them as planters.
• Be willing to put up with a less-than-perfect looking garden: crookedrows and weeds are okay.

Gardening with Kids

Cynthia Davis Klemmer, the Children's Education Coordinator at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, suggests these gardening tips:

Spring has sprung — and you have flowers on your mind! But the garden isn’t the only place you’ll find fab foliage. Flower names, plant-inspired names, and names for girls inspired by towering trees are sweet, sentimental, classic, and even sassy. Whether you’re on the hunt for a modern moniker that stands out or a traditional pick that pays homage to Mother Nature, flower names for girls are everything you are looking for and more.

Make a Hanging Basket

Materials

• Hanging wire basket
• Sphagnum moss
• Potting soil
• Selected plants (see Note)

Hanging baskets of flowers provide lots of color throughout the summer and fall. A ten-inch basket will hold eight to twelve plants, depending on the varieties chosen.

Let's Pretend for Toddlers

This activity will give your child's large muscles a workout along with his imagination.

Directions

1. Give your child a series of instructions such as "Let's pretend you are a rabbit. Can you hop like a rabbit?" or "Let's pretend you are an elephant. Can you walk about like a big, heavy elephant?"
2. Try other animals and include things such as plants growing in the ground, a flower opening on a summer day, or a balloon being filled with air.

Types of terrariums

Egg cartons, styrofoam products

Bean Teepee

Materials

Growing an Herb Garden

Materials

Build an Aquarium Terrarium

You'll need these materials:

Nature inspires us with its beauty. Trees, woods, forests, and glens all evoke magical imagery and wonder; they are the stuff of fairytales and far-off places. Therefore, it is little wonder there are so many baby names related to trees and nature.

More: 75 Plant Inspired Names for Your Future Botanist

Chatting with Children

You should always chat with your baby to help her learn to talk. But did you know it's just as important to talk to your toddler, too? Talking helps him learn language skills and lets him know what he says is important.

What to do: