The following are ideas for using
The Tiny Seed in the classroom.

• Submitted by Jennifer Bjerke

  I am a pre-service teacher, but I used this idea for a book talk. After sharing the book with your class, have the children create their own giant flowers using the method Eric Carle does — collage. You will need tissue paper and acrylic paint (I used tempera paint and it worked fine). Have the children carefully apply the paint to the tissue paper. Let this dry completely and then cut your flower out. Use these to create a garden or to complete the life cycle of a flower. You could alternatively use the flowers to create a bulletin board entitled, “Watch Me Grow.” Put each child’s face in the center of his or her flower and there you go!! The collage method might be a bit difficult for younger grades. You could also use markers and tissue paper. Apply the marker to paper and spray it lightly with a gentle mist of water. Of course, for the collage method, you can also use magazines, newspapers, and construction paper.

• Submitted by Melissa Cameron

  We read The Tiny Seed during our Eric Carle study. I traced three different types of flowers about three feet in diameter. The children decorated their flowers using different media such as sponge paints, crayons, glitter, sunflower seeds, and cupcake liners. I hung them up on the bulletin board and added stems and leaves. We created our own giant garden of flowers.

• Submitted by Deb Kock

  I read The Tiny Seed to incoming Kindergarteners on Kindergarten Round-Up day in the spring. I read the story and give each child a packet of flower seeds to plant at home. I tell them that when their flowers are grown, it will be time to come to Kindergarten.

• Submitted by Amy Sharrar

  I teach second grade and recently read The Tiny Seed to my students. After listening to the story as a whole group, I divided the students into four groups (red, blue, yellow, and green). Two groups planted marigold seeds, while the remaining students composed a book with pictures. These two activities seemed to help the story come to life.

• Submitted by Emma

  I used the book The Tiny Seed with preschool and first grade students. We read the book together and talked about what happened to each seed. I passed out cupcake holders, glitter, M&M’s, glue, and markers. Each student made a flower on a piece of colored paper. The cupcake holders make excellent flower petals, and M&M’s or Skittles work well for the seeds.

• Submitted by Jeanne Riley

  I use this book with the flannel board, a song, and a poem. The Seed Song is as follows:
  
  Seeds are buried deep-deep-deep.
  In the soil they sleep-sleep-sleep.
  Yellow sun is bright-bright-bright.
  Raindrops falling light-light-light.
  Gentle breezes blow-blow-blow.
  See the little seed grow-grow-grow.
  
  My students love to act out the life cycle of the seed with creative movement. We also use this Hawaiian poem:
  
  Ua is the falling rain,
  La the sun so high,
  Togther they make Anuenue,
  A rainbow in the sky.

• Submitted by Rebecca Crow

  We read The Tiny Seed in our summer enrichment class. We loved the book and we illustrated pictures of how the seed grew throughout the book. We cut out the pictures and put them back in order.

• Submitted by Heather

  After reading The Tiny Seed, my kindergarten class made giant flowers similar to the one in the book. I attached a picture of each child to the center of a small paper plate. The children cut out petals and glued them to the plate. Then they used sunflower seeds to “frame” their picture. While the flower dried, we made 3 large green leaves and wrote sentences about ourselves on them. (My name is... I am...years old. I like....) I gave the children a long strip of bulletin board paper to attach the leaves and flowers to. We displayed our giant flower garden in the hall.

• Submitted by Alexandra Umbria

  I read The Tiny Seed to my first grade class. We then cut flower shapes from construction paper and used colored tissue paper to cover the front, gluing it flat on the surface and crumpled in the center. On the back the children labeled the parts of a flower (leaves, stem, etc.).

• Submitted by Jan Monteith

  My first graders love The Tiny Seed. We read it several times and discuss what causes the demise of each seed. (Ex. the bird needing food, by the child picking the flower it no longer gets what it needs to survive, etc.) Each child then pretends he is the seed and writes his wonderful adventure(s) from seed to plant. When completed, they are given sunflower seeds to use as they illustrate segments (beginning, middle, end) of their story.

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