Unit 1 Summary 

Objective:  Children will be able to demonstrate the life cycle of a plant, detailing the planting, feeding, watering, growing, and harvesting process.

Materials Needed

•       “Bunny Hop” game instructions

•        Pictures of fruits and vegetables

•        “Oh, Do You Eat Your Vegetables” song lyrics

•        UNIT 1 discussion card 

•        “Seedling Song” lyrics

•        Tummy Mindfulness and Experiential Eating protocol

•        Fruits, vegetables, and napkins for tasting

•        Tummy dolls

•        Watering cans

•        “Red apple, green apple” game instructions

•        Pictures of yellow, green, and red apples

•        Lima bean experiment card

•        Supplies for planting lima bean (seed, moist paper towel, clear plastic bag, heavy tape)

Introduction [10 minutes—game]

•     Game: “Bunny Hop.” 

Classroom Activities [20 minutes—song, discussion, song]

• Song: "Oh, Do You Eat Your Vegetables”

• Discussion 1a: “Lifecycle of fruits and vegetables”

  • • Have the children act out each stage of a plant's lifecycle

      • •  Seed (crouch into ball)

        • Sprout (stand a little in a squatting position)

        • Plants (stand with arms raised)

        • Receive water and sunshine (stand on tiptoes with arms reaching into sky)

        • Bear fruit (make fists)

• Song: “Seedling Song”

Mindful Eating [15 minutes—tummy mindfulness, experiential eating]

• Tummy Mindfulness and Experiential Eating Protocol

Garden Activity [20 minutes—discussion, garden maintenance, song, garden exploration, game]

•  Discussion 1b, Garden Maintenance and Song

  • Ask the children what plants need (water and sunshine)

  •  Have the children water the garden

  • Sing lyrics to the “Seedling Song” while watering

• Garden Exploration

  • Point out the plants growing

  • Have the children identify characteristics of fruits and/or vegetables (color, shape, texture, if ready for harvesting)

• Game: “Red Apple, Green Apple”

Mindfulness Activity/Wrap Up/Review [10 minutes— mindfulness, discussion, science experiment]

• Mindfulness Activity: There are three (3) Mindfulness activities available as Bonus Materials; (1) Art Activity, (2) Guided Meditation, and (3) Yoga Activity. You have the option of selecting one of these mindfulness activities to perform along with the Wrap-up and Review of each unit. 

* (See Mindfulness Activities for Objectives, Key Learning Concepts, Materials, and Instructions)  

• Discussion 1c: The teacher emphasizes the importance of eating fruits and vegetables in order to grow and have energy, and ends the conversation by asking the children, “Where do fruits and vegetables come from?” The teacher leads the children to answer that fruits and vegetables come from seeds.

• Science Experiment: In order to further emphasize this concept, the teacher leads the children in planting a lima bean seed in front of the class. The lima bean seed is planted in a clear plastic bag with a very moist paper towel and taped to a window that gets sun. This allows the class to observe what happens to the seed and seedling over time, modeling the processes that are occurring outside in the garden.

  • • Over the next 12 units, the teacher measures and charts the lima bean’s growth using a ruler (taking the measurements might be too complicated for the children so they can watch the teacher measure the plan.