About once a month I put together a themed book basket for Ro and I to explore. The themes vary based on what I'm into, what he's into, or current events. I've been doing this for about two years, and I have a ton of themes that I've already fully thought out, so I thought I would share! Every book basket has at least five books in it (most of the time many more) and includes a simple activity.
Themed baskets are great ideas for passive learning. First I introduce him to the basket and the activities, then I set it out in his room to let him play with it as he wishes. Usually, we steal books from the baskets for bedtime stories. You can use these lists as homeschool subject aids, or as ideas for a gift basket! The first three themes I'm going to be sharing are gardens, bugs, and rocks. Perfect reads for the month of May! I will be posting all three baskets this week.
I want to note that I make heavy use of the library and our Inter-Library Loan system when I'm putting together these baskets. Most libraries have a similar system for borrowing books from other libraries available, and some even will let you place holds online. I know currently getting to a library is difficult, but hopefully one day soon we will be able to check out books again!
And now I present: our garden basket! This basket was put together last summer, so you will notice that I used as many board books as possible.
I had two activities for this basket. For the first activity, I made three discovery bottles that help explain the process of growing. I usually use VOSS plastic water bottles for these, because they have a nice shape and a solid lid. The first bottle has sunflower seeds that I got at the gas station, the second has potting soil, and the third has grass and leaves that I stole from our yard. To keep the leaves green longer, I added some water to the plant's bottle. This kept them fresh looking for at least a week.
I also added a "Lego garden" activity to the basket, which included green plates and bricks with extra flower pieces. The idea was that Ro could build a garden when we couldn't get outside.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of garden books available. These are just the ones I could get my hands on and enjoyed. If you have a favorite garden book, please add it to the comments!
Garden Book List:
Other Book Baskets in this series:
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