Build a paper garden on a classroom bulletin board. Invite kindergartners to help you select a background color such as yellow or blue butcher paper. Then provide construction paper, tissue paper, yarn, buttons and other craft materials. Have students create flowers, bushes, vegetables, insects and other animals to fill the garden. Encourage students to use the story to write out labels for the plants and animals. Help students staple their paper garden and labels on the bulletin board.
The seeds, soil, sun and rain all claimed to own the garden in the book. Discuss with kindergartners what plants need to grow. Invite kindergartners to plant flowers in a classroom window box or in small clay pots. Allow kindergartners to scoop up potting soil in the planters. Choose seeds that are relatively easy to grow such as cosmos, morning glories, nasturtiums or sweet alyssums for kindergartens to plant. Have students monitor the sun and water intake for their plants. Once the seeds sprout and the weather warms up, have kindergartners help transplant the flowers outdoors.
Print out pictures of a rabbit, woodchuck, bird, worm, honeybee and turtle. Glue pictures on index cards. Then print out pictures of things the animals eat such as carrots and celery for the rabbit, leaves and vines for the woodchuck, seeds and worms for the bird, soil for the worm, flowers for the honeybee, and lettuce and tomatoes for the turtle. Glue food items on index cards. Mix the cards up and have kindergartners match the animals to their correct food choices.
Take kindergartners outside to explore a school garden, flowerbeds or open fields. Provide magnifying glasses for students to look for insects crawling in the soil or caterpillars munching on leaves. Ask kindergartners if they see any new buds on the plants or trees. Allow kindergartners to bring a few flowers and leaves back to the classroom to study. Provide time for kindergartners to look at the parts of a flower and the veins on the leaves.