Cathy James, UK creator of blog NurtureStore, has just launched her wonderful book called, ‘The Garden Classroom‘. Aimed at children aged 4-8, it includes pages and pages of fun and creative ways to use the garden for learning.
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of Cathy’s new book and I expected it to be nothing short of fabulous. Cathy is incredibly talented, creative and inspiring to parents, teachers and children and this beautiful collection of gardening ideas that promote learning doesn’t disappoint. I just know you guys will love her book for your own kids.
So often do we connect children’s learning with being inside the home or walls of the classroom. This incredible resource of ideas has children considering what they can learn from their own environment and getting hands on. The 221 paged book has learning activities that cover Maths, Science, Literacy and Art. It also includes a gorgeous garden journal for children to make records and reflect on their experiences, which she is giving away to you as a free gift here.
What does it look like inside the book?
Inspiring and easy to read instructions with colourful and clear photographs. Feel free to have a look yourself though!
From The Garden Classroom by Cathy James, © 2015 by Cathy James. Reprinted by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications Inc., Boston, MA. www.roostbooks.com
Whilst this book is aimed at children 4-8, Possum (aged 3 years) became a chorus of ‘Mummy, let’s do that’ and ‘When can we make this?’. I know we can still get so much enjoyment from all the activities and simply adapt them to suit us.
Where can I buy a copy?
You can easily purchase your own copy of this book on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Roost, Barnes & Noble or Fishpond AU.
How do I win a copy?
If you’re feeling lucky, I’m giving you a chance to win a copy of ‘The Garden Classroom’ for yourselves. To enter, simply comment below and tell me –
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all those who entered.
What do your children enjoy doing in the garden?
Terms & Conditions of entry
If you’d like to hear what others have to say about ‘The Garden Classroom’ by Cathy James, be sure to click over to those involved in this wonderful book tour.
Looks like a gorgeous book!
My kids love being out in the garden – digging in the dirt, feeding the chickens their ‘leaf and flower offerings’ and leaping like wild things on the trampoline!
I love her blog! And I imagine this book will be amazing too! My three love planting seeds but when that’s done they love bringing their plastic animals down to the veggie patch when I’m weeding. I have sometimes later re-discovered monkeys hanging out in the broccoli though 😉
My two year old little monkey loves interacting with animals – saying good morning to our native bees and the worms in the worm farm, feeding the worms and soil with veggie scraps, singing back to the magpies, kookaburras and cockatoos, and pointing out grubs for the chickens to eat. As much as I wish she liked watering the garden she ends up just wanting to water me! Every night she draws and reflects in her nature journal, which we’ve broken down in to the four seasons, and rather than going off the calendar year, we use nature observation to determine when our seasons our changing. We would absolutely love to win a copy of The Garden Classroom to inspire even more garden play and learning ideas so that there’s always new activities to discover to retain our connection to nature as she grows. Thanking you
I am so excited by this book! I have been enjoying Cathy’s instagram feed (and blog) for a long time now, and love seeing how they enjoy their garden. My kids love out backyard. At the moment we are raising chicks. So each morning, they take the chicks from our bathroom where they sleep under a heat lamp, and set them up in a coop out in our new chicken run. They check their water and food and take such lovely care of them! I have been so impressed by their readiness to really look after them. They also spend time just sitting i the chook run talking to the chicks and hen. Super sweet stuff! For next Spring we are aiming to set up a veggie patch (in the meantime we are doing our outdoor entertaining area and lawn area)
I am really loving the look of this book!
My kids favourite thing to do in the garden is dig up worms 🙂
Building fairy houses!
Oh I’m not an Australia resident. Sorry.
My 3 year old totally loves watering the plants with his toy watering can & picking up the snails from the veggie patch and then leaving them outside the home.
They love watering the plants and digging for worms. Also building fairy houses and bird house.
I have just started to homeschool my 4 daughters and out theme for term one is living things. We have a herb garden and a worm farm so far but will be doing plenty more outdoor activities. This book wpuld be invaluable to us.
Not only does my son pull my plants out from the ground, but he investigates the plants. There is nothing better than teaching a child how to look after plants, by not hurting them, but in the same sense, teach him about why all plants look different and how they grow. We are green fingers-galore and we love getting dirty!
My children love the enjoyment of playing with others being imaginative in their play. Getting creative in mud messy play and sensory materials galore.
I work at a childcare centre and my preschoolers absolutely love looking for bugs. Whether its lifting up logs and rocks or digging for worms. If something is found you can see all of them rush over to have a look. Plus we have just started a mud kitchen and new vegetable garden which im sure will soon be loved just as much as bug hunts are
Monkey see, Monkey do.
Our little man loves to do anything he sees daddy & mummy doing whether that be digging, planting, raking, weeding, watering, even clipping the trees & shrubs. He has his own set of garden tools and wheelbarrow.
I work in the foundation phase, so our classroom is outside. We are lucky to have a wonderful outside area for our numeracy and literacy. I would love a copy for our little enquiring minds to learn from.
My boy loves being in the garden! He loves digging in the dirt, learning about the various inhabitants and watching things grow 🙂 I hope he grows up to love the outdoors as much as me!
My children love helping their dad pick the kale and basil from their garden for his smoothies. They also love to feed the chickens strawberries, which is their favorite treat! Mum loves to relax with a cup of tea watching them all
What a gorgeous book!!!!! My boys love finding insects in the garden 🙂 They are always wanting to make them a “home” with a box and watch them for an hour or two before putting them back.
I teach kindergarten in the middle east and we have a very short growing season and we plant seeds in small containers, watch the stages of growth, write in journals, then take the plants home…after the plants go home, my kids love, love, love to play in the leftover soil! They plant the extra seeds, flood them with water, and get all muddy! I would love to explore other ways to develop a garden next year with my kids and I think this book will give me some great ideas! 🙂 Good luck to everyone <3
Bird watching and planting flowers 🙂
my children at my pre school would love using this book as we have just got a allotment and we need help to start looking after it and getting it up and running so please please can we have a copy thanks
My girls are older now (10 & 12 years) but they still love to be outside. The 10 year old is still catching snails and one time they created a whole snail hotel with different rooms and places to go. I had to limit snails to outside after my younger daughter (then 7/8 years) set up an obstacle course in her room for about 6 snails. I am now training to be an Early Childhood Teacher so this would be a terrific resource for me and my future students.
looks like a beautiful book, my 4 kids love anything to do with the garden & in need of more ideas 🙂
they just love to dig & play with the creatures they find
I do Family Childcare and this would be a great book to use.
This would be a great way to get the kids excited about planning and planting a garden!! I need this for our homeschool classroom!
I just love Cathy James and love being inspired to try new things with my kids. We have just moved to rural Victoria from the big city (!) and are just starting to collect ideas for our new wonderfully big outdoor space! My 3.5yr old and 1yr old love spending time outside. My daughter is a collector and builds fairy gardens and rings with any rocks and flowers she can find. There’s always lots of water involved and my little boy is definitely trying out all the sensory materials in our garden, exploring the sand, mud and rocks! The cubby is always a favourite too!