Combine math skills and vegetable lessons by creating a salad using 10 types of vegetables. Each ingredient must fill one number. For instance, use one head of lettuce, two peppers and three tomatoes. Chop vegetables in half if necessary to fill in the higher numbers. Arrange the ingredients out of numerical order and invite children to arrange them from lowest number to highest. Chop up all the vegetables into smaller pieces and enjoy a salad. The veggies can also be added to pasta to make pasta salad.
Teach children about how to care for plants by completing an experiment. Invite preschoolers to help plant vegetable seeds in two pots. Place one pot near a window and help children water it each day. Place the other pot in a dark area and leave it alone. Ask children to guess what will happen to the two plants. As the days go by, they should be able to see that the only plant that flourishes is the one they're taking care of.
Vegetables and plants come in all the colors of the rainbow, so they can help teach children about color. Give children cooking or gardening magazines and ask them to look for pictures of colored vegetables and plants. Once they've cut out these pictures, ask children to name each color and sort the pictures into groups based on similar colors. If you have access to a garden, take children outside along with pieces of colored paper. Invite children to carry their colored paper through the garden to find a plant that matches.
Help each child design her own garden to help each child develop a green thumb. Show children some pictures of gardens for inspiration, then pass out large sheets of white paper and crayons. Invite each child to draw her own garden. Encourage children to make their gardens more elaborate than a few simple rows of plants. They can include trees, rocks, benches and whatever plants they choose. Ask children to think carefully about where they place each plant. For instance, large rose bushes might overrun a smaller plant if they're too close to one another.