Gardening Activities for Kids

I have started volunteering at our local botanical garden, and it’s so fun to do activities with the kids and show them all the different things that grow there. Whether you’re gardening at home or at school, getting kids involved in planting and caring for flowers, plants and vegetables is a lot of fun for all involved.

If you don’t have easy access to land to garden, there are still plenty of garden activities you can try. Such as planting in eggshells, like in this project from Little Bins for Little Hands. This post goes into a lot of detail about seed germination and the different stages, and includes printable worksheets on the life cycle of a bean plant.

The plant science experiments from Lessons 4 Little Ones don’t require planting in the ground; cups are just fine. A couple of the experiments include testing which kind of water helps plants grow better, investigating whether plants need light and growing grass in cups with each child’s picture on them (so cute!). If your classroom has windows, you can also do the classic experiment of sprouting beans in plastic bag “greenhouses.”

Or make a greenhouse in a plastic cup with this idea from Mama Papa Bubba. You can also try regrowing lettuce from the core, as shown in this tutorial from The Educators’ Spin On It.

Start with plants instead of seeds and you can make a jar terrarium with this idea from Barley & Birch.

If you do have some outdoors space, check out these posts on the fastest sprouting seeds (You Should Grow), easy plants to grow from seed (Crafts on Sea) and the easiest vegetables to grow (Together Time Family).

If you’re doing anything gardening or plant related with kids of almost any age, you’ll want to check out the printable botany lessons from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. This collection includes of 80 pages of resources, from life cycle information to plant cards, fact sheets, experiments and more. This is not a free resource but it’s jam packed with goodness.

Having a garden journal is a fun way for kids to record what they plant in the garden and how it grows. This kids garden planner from Farm House By L on Etsy includes a garden checklist, diary and journal pages and a scavenger hunt for kids to do in the garden.

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Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa known for its desert and game reserves. About 70 percent of the country is part of the Kalahari Desert, and it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

Botswana Basics

Botswana is borders by South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
With an area of 224,610 square miles (581,730 square kilometers) it’s about the size of France, and is home to about 2.4 million people.
The country is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, and the name means “home of the Tswana.” The Tswana are descendants of Bantu speakers who settled in the area as early as 600 AD.
The British colonized the area in 1885, and it gained its freedom in 1966.
Evidence shows that the area was inhabited by humans at least 400,000 years ago, and some theorize that it was the birthplace of all modern humans around 200,000 years ago.
Gabarone is the nation’s capital and largest city.
English is the official language, but Setswana (the language of the Tswana) is recognized as the national language.
Botswana is a parliamentary republic that also has a president, but the same political party has ruled there since independence.

Botswana National Symbols

The flag of Botswana is mostly sky blue with a horizontal band of black in the center with narrower white lines on either side. The blue is meant to signify the sky and water, while the black and white bands represent harmony among the diverse people who live there.

The national anthem, “Fatshe leno la rona,” or “Blessed Be the Noble Land,” was adopted in 1966.

The coat of arms shows two zebra holding a shield between them. The shield includes important elements from Botswana including cogwheels to represent industry, a bull for cattle herding, sorghum for agriculture and an ivory tusk to represent the country’s high population of elephants. It also includes the national motto, pula, which means “let there be rain.”

Zebras are a national symbol of the country, both because it is neutral in terms of traditional tribal symbols, and because the combination of black and white on their bodies evokes racial harmony.

The national tree is the marula, also known as Sclerocarya birrea, which is a medium-sized tree known as the king of trees in Africa. Check out that link for all the different uses for the tree, plus some debunking of the myth that eating the marula fruits can make animals drunk.

The kgori is the national bird, and it is the largest flying bird in Africa. The national flower is Sengaparile or Harpagophytum procumbens, also known as Devil’s claw for its spiny fruits, but it is one of the most common medicinal plants in Southern Africa.

Botswana Activities for Kids

Since zebras are the national animal you can spend some time learning about them. Check out this post at National Geographic Kids, and make some zebra crafts from this list from Artsy Craftsy Mom.

KidsKonnect has a good page and downloadable resources about the Kalahari Desert, while Twinkl has a variety of downloads on deserts in general, desert animals, deserts of the world and a set specific to Botswana. You can also find country studies, mini books and more at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn more about the Okavango Delta, a vast inland river delta that is mostly pristine because a lot of it is a nature preserve.

Check out Old Palaypye, a site that has been occupied by humans since the middle Stone Age and is considered the first town established in Botswana.

The national dish of Botswana is seswaa, stewed meet (usually beef) served with pap, which is like polenta. Check out the recipe at G Adventures, or a lazy version from My Burnt Orange.

Looking for a picture book about Botswana? Try The Upside Down Baobab Tree.

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Have you read?

Botswana Basics

Botswana National Symbols

Botswana Activities for Kids

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