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Kindergarten Books > What’s This?

What’s This?

Text and illustrations: Caroline Mockford

“What’s this?” wonders a little girl when she finds a seed in her garden. Together with her friends – a bird and a cat — she plants the seed and takes care of it. Summer comes, and the secret of the seed is revealed! A story about caring for plants and nature.

Family Activities

The child found a seed that arouses her curiosity, so she planted it, took care of it, followed its growth process and waited patiently until the common sunflower came out.

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Dear Parents,

The child found a seed that arouses her curiosity, so she planted it, took care of it, followed its growth process and waited patiently until the common sunflower came out.

All children are amazed by the secrets of nature, such as the weather and growing plants, and their instinctive curiosity pushes them to think, ask questions and explore. Curiosity and asking question are the key to knowledge, and if both happen in an environment where children are encouraged to ask question, look for answers, guess and conclude alone, they will gain skills and tools for continued learning.

We share with you some ideas regarding this book:

Family Activities

  • With the child in the book, we follow the growth process of the sunflower: What helped the seed to grow to become a beautiful flower?
  • Every seed has a different growth story. Children enjoy the experience of planting different types of seeds and watching each one grow differently. This is an opportunity to talk with your child about the environment that each seed needs to grow in (such as how much water and light), and about the commonalities and differences among seeds.
  • Children see the high trees and big plants around them. We can explore the source of each plant starting from the seed. It is an opportunity to visit the nearest nursery to learn about different types of plants and trees in different growth level.
  • A cat and a bird accompanied the girl as she was taking care of the plant. They asked questions, they consulted. Let’s look at our role as parents: do we accompany our child’s exploring, and how?
  • The protagonist tells the plant some of her secrets, although the latter does not hear. Does it happen sometimes that we talk to our toys, dog or cat? When does it happen?
  • Taking care of plants demands a lot of patience and waiting, something that a 3 or 4 years old child lacks. We can help children develop this ability by making them, with their approval of course, do some daily tasks that fit their abilities, such as watering plants or measuring their height. Children would very happy to make a plate of vegetables from those that they plant themselves.
  • All creatures grow and so do we! We can invite our child to look at his growth process by measuring his height or weight every once in a while, and have a conversation about the factors that cause our body to grow.

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