- aprons
- drawing materials
- laminated pictures of garden items
- modeling clay
- play and real gardening utensils (shovels, seed packets, gardening shears, trowels, pots, soil, etc.)
- poster board
- gardening books
- small boxes
- small paper bags
- toy and real plants and flowers
- gardener
- utensils
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Approaches to Learning/Initiative and Curiosity Demonstrates flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in approaching tasks and activities.
Logic and Reasoning/Symbolic Representation Engages in pretend play and acts out roles.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 4 Engage in play experiences that involve naming and sorting common words into various classifications using general and specific language.
English Language Arts/Composition 18 Use emergent writing skills to make letters in many settings and for many purposes.
Garden Shop
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Imaginative Play, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Set up an area of shelves for children to “shop” from. This may be a book shelf, shelves made of blocks, books, or large cardboard boxes. Cut out and laminate gardening items and plant pictures.
Set up a garden shop for children.
- Encourage children to make signs and a simple menu board listing what is for sale: seed, plants, soil, etc. Have children draw a simple picture of each item on the menu so they can order by pointing to the pictures on the menu.
- Have children display the items for sale on the shelves.
- Model being a clerk who asks the customer for his or her order, boxes or bags the item, and rings it up on the cash register.
- Invite children to take turns role-playing being a gardener, a clerk, or a customer.