Early years stories about gardening

As a follow to my last post about gardening in the early years I thought I’d put together a list of fun and engaging early years stories that touch upon the theme of gardening. I’ve provided links to Amazon in case something catches your eye that you would like to buy. If you can think of any others please leave a comment below…

And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson

This is a celebration of the cycle of the seasons on a young boy’s vegetable patch. Winter, summer, rain or shine, Nan and Wilfred visit and tend their vegetable patch. Sometimes they dig, sometimes they sow, and sometimes they just lie in the long green grass and sing – and all the while, the good brown earth gets on with doing what the good brown earth does best.

Eddie’s Garden: and How to Make Things Grow by Sarah Garland

What makes Eddie’s garden grow? Earth, rain, sun and all sorts of creatures, of course! Eddie’s garden is magnificent, from his stringy bean house to his tall sunflowers. How Eddie’s garden grows and develops is clearly told in this gentle story with lively characters and colourful illustrations. The book includes full information on growing a garden like Eddie’s in a home garden or even indoors.

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting and Kathryn Hewitt

Follow the progress of a little girl and her father as they purchase “a garden,” and board the bus to carry it home.

Garden (Look and Say) by Felicity Brooks

This new title in the popular “Look and Say” series is designed to introduce the objects found in the garden. 5 colourful scenes show the garden in all its glory, from flowers to paddling pools, trees to sandpits and plants to barbeques.

I Really Wonder What Plant I’m Growing by Lauren Child

This extremely good Charlie and Lola story includes a nine-piece puzzle and a colouring page, plus a velcro closure to keep the puzzle together and a useful carry handle.

Jack and the beanstalk by Richard Walker

A re-telling of the classic children’s story by Richard Walker delightfully illustrated by Niamh Sharkey.

Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs

A twist on the classic children’s story by the author and illustrator of the best-selling Snowman. Jim finds a beanstalk growing outside his window one morning, and follows his famous predecessor up to the top.

Jasper’s beanstalk by Nick Butterworth

Another twist on the classic children’s story….Jasper’s Beanstalk introduces readers to the character of Jasper who is determined to grow a beanstalk. He plants the bean and tends to it carefully each day. Finally, he gets fed up of waiting for it to grow and digs up the bean and throws it away. Readers will probably guess what happens at the end.

Jody’s Beans by Malachy Doyle

An informative picture book about life cycles and seasons.

Miffy in the Garden by Dick Bruna

How do flowers grow? What can miffy do to help? miffy experiences the pleasures of gardening for the first time…Goodbye Grandma miffy’s beloved grandma passes away…teach your child about coping with the death of a loved one by sharing the event with miffy.

Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French

Oliver loves chips, in fact, he won’t eat anything else – until he plays a game with his granddad. Whatever vegetable Oliver finds in the garden, he must eat. On Monday, he pulls up carrots, on Tuesday, it is spinach . This is an excellent book for parents with slightly fussy children and it introduces the days of the week.

Oliver’s Fruit Salad by Vivian French

Oliver is back from his healthy week eating vegetables at his grandpa’s house. Suddenly, the fruit at home doesn’t seem quite good enough for Oliver. What is his mum to do?

Once There Was a Seed by Judith Anderson

This book tells the life story of a seed (how it grows into a plant and then forms new seeds) through the eyes of a little girl and her green-fingered granddad.

One Child, One Seed by Kathryn Cave

This is a really wonderful counting book that will also enhance young children’s knowledge and understanding of the world. It is full of information about the life and culture of South Africa, and contains many fantastic photographs. Each spread features a main photograph that follows Nothando, as she grows and harvests a pumpkin seed and contains simple counting from 1 to 10. Surrounding this are secondary images and text, containing an abundance of information about the growing of plants and crops, shopping, travelling, food preparation, family meals and much more.

Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

Sunflower seeds sown in a circle and watered, weeded, and watched eventually grow into a beautiful sunflower house with lots of room inside for three friends and their imaginations. When summer’s over and the sunflowers fall, the friends save seeds to plant next spring.

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

When the tiny seed is blown away from its parent plant, it travels a very long way – over seas, deserts and mountains. The tiny seed survives the hazards of the journey and finally falls onto fertile earth. It grows and grows, becoming the tallest, biggest flower for miles around. Then one day the wind blows and thousands of the flower’s seeds begin their own journeys.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The classic edition of the bestselling story written for the very young. A newly hatched caterpillar eats his way through all kinds of food.

Billy’s sunflower by Nicola Moon

This story is part of a series created especially for children who are just beginning to read for themselves. The text is short and simple with bright supporting illustrations. It begins with a giant sunflower towering over Billy’s Dad. The flower eventually starts to wither and as it does Autumn is explained to Billy. The book ends with Billy collecting seeds and dreaming of the flowers he’ll grow the following spring.

Enormous Turnip by Cristiana Cerretti

A re-telling of the classic children’s by Cristiana Cerretti with fun lift-up flaps which encourage prediction and discussion.

How a Seed  Grows by Helene J Jordan

A fantastic resource to teach young children about how a seed grows.  It uses observations of bean seeds planted in eggshells to demonstrate the growth of seeds into plants.