Education Outside
Chard Tabbouleh Raps
Pupils work with homophones and heterographs found in a recipe for tabbouleh wraps. They work together in groups to perform the tasks necessary to create this Middle Eastern dish, then they get to enjoy it. A fine lesson that combines...
Education Outside
Divine Dumplings
In a lesson that combines cooking, language arts, and social studies, learners create a delicious plate of dumplings for everyone to enjoy. After an initial discussion in the opening circle, pupils go to the cooking station and work...
Ophelia Project
Let’s Be Friends
Introduce positive social skills and friendship to young learners with this wonderfully designed eight-lesson unit. It includes several activities to help learners identify positive attributes, build empathy, and understand the qualities...
Growing Classroom
Space Travelers
Groups of three scientists from the rocky planet Zog investigate the composition of soil so that they can take the information back to their home, create soil there, and begin to grow food.
Education Outside
Brassica Fried Rice
Here's a delicious way to engage fourth graders into working with fractions. Kids chop brassica or cruciferous vegetables, measure the required ingredients, and add them to cooked rice to produce a delicious treat.
Education Outside
Compost in a Bag
Young scientists create a compost bag, predict changes, and after one month, examine the bag to observe the changes that have occurred.
Education Outside
Papermaking
Imagine recycling food scraps and using them to make paper. The directions are all here in a seven-page packet that details several paper-making strategies.
Education Outside
Honey Tasting
Young scientists will be abuzz as they sample and compare the tasty treats produced by Apis Mellifera.
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Rope Making
Jump ropes, dock lines, cables. The science and technology behind rope making is the focus of a seven-page packet that ends with a rope making challenge.
Education Outside
Ladybug Release
As part of a study of garden friends and foes, primary graders release and observe ladybugs in the school garden.
Education Outside
Leaf Adaptations
Long life or a fast life cycle? Class members each gather a leaf, observe its characteristics such as texture, surface, scent, design, shading, and size and then discuss the adaptations made for survival as well as what the leaf reveals...
Outside Education
Handmade Fettuccine
Young chefs engage in an interdisciplinary cooking lesson converting measurements within a recipe, crafting noodles, gathering herbs from the school garden, and making fettuccine for a class luncheon.
Education Outside
Soil Composition & Discovery
Organic or mineral? How does the matter matter? Second graders use their knowledge of the rock cycle to label the different components in garden soil.
Education Outside
Alphabet Hike
Here's a simple activity with tons of potential! Take a stroll with your class and have them identify what they are feeling, smelling, seeing, or listening to using each letter of the alphabet.
Outside Education
Water Cycle Adventure
Evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, accumulation. Steam, clouds, rain, lakes. Guide your class members on an imaginary journey through the water cycle with a water cycle adventure script.
Outside Education
Who Lives in a Tree?
Young scientists journey outside to observe what animals live in nearby tress. They identify the animal, take note of special features that help the animal in this habitat, and then illustrate their findings.
California Academy of Science
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Before Google, before Sillicon Valley, before the Gold Rush, the San Francisco landscape was a biome filled with grizzly bears, mule deer, tule elk, coyotes, gray fox, gophers, and moles. To explore the early days of yesteryear, kids...
Education Outside
Life Cycle of a Sunflower
From a tiny seed needing water and warmth to the bud that will blossom into a flower, elementary pupils illustrate the stages of the sunflower life cycle through dance and drawing.
Education Outside
Fruits vs. Veggies
Fruit or vegetable? That is the question in this activity designed for first graders. After a brief explanation of the difference, kids select two plants, use two words to describe each one, label them as a fruits or vegetables, and...
Education Outside
Seed Scavenger Hunt
After listening to a book about seeds, individuals locate, collect, and illustrate five seeds from the school garden and determine how the seed traveled to the plot.
Education Outside
Plant, This Is Your Life!
Individuals select a plant, illustrate it in their journal, record observations, and create a life story for their plant that accounts for its features and any unique properties. Using these descriptions, a partner attempts to locate...
Outside Education
Plant a Plant in Anything!
Primary graders repurpose items brought from home to create containers for plants. After poking holes in their containers, kids add soil and plant seeds or transplant an item, and then observe and draw conclusions about which items make...
Education Outside
Grow an Art Garden: Plant a Rainbow
After a reading of Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow, class members plan a rainbow garden, research growing cycles of the fruits and vegetables in their section, and then plant and maintain the garden.
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role-Play
A role-play activity that uses Ping-Pong balls to represent carbon atoms demonstrates for young scientists the complex relationships involved in the carbon cycle.