This resource features four theme days with accompanying lesson plans and materials. Each theme day has a lesson plan, guided activities, materials, and interactive components for students to explore agriculture in Saskatchewan. Each day, students will learn about a specific topic, have a word-work/colouring activity page, and add to their ‘If I Were a Farmer’ poster page!

The first theme is about the basics of farming beginning with the ABCs of Farming presentation. The second theme is all about plants, what they need to grow, and what kind of crops are planted here in Saskatchewan. Students will even get to germinate their own sunflower!  The third theme day is focused on animals, the types of farm animals that are raised in Saskatchewan, and what the farm animals eat. Students will get to see real-life examples of the different types of feed for these animals. The final theme day is about food and students growing their understanding of where food comes from by participating in an activity about by-products!

Once your class has completed the four lessons, a certification of completion is included to hand out to your class.

Note: There is enough resources in each kit for two Kindergarten classes if you have alternating sections. Select 'First-Time Farmers Replacement Materials' if you already have a kit and need items replenished!

Be sure to download the 'ABCs of Farming Presentation' and save the link to 'The Seed Song video' for the classroom!

Not available for homeschools.

This poster highlights how farmers follow the "4 R's" when applying nutrients to ensure the new plants have proper food to grow healthy and strong.

Engage students in growing plants! Students will plant seeds in water gel crystals to enhance their ability to observe the growth of roots, stems, and leaves over several days. Then, explore how plants are grown in hydroponic systems.

This interactive tool allows students to independently explore the macro and micro nutrients that plants need to grow, and learn why they are needed.

Let’s Eat: Plants! is an interactive resource that connects kids to where their food comes from. Students learn which grain, fruit and vegetable crops are needed to make the foods they commonly eat. Plant parts as food ingredients are investigated.

Discover how ecosystems work. Students will learn about ecosystems by building a bottle ecosystem and observing what happens. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a particular area. Ecosystems also contain non-living components like rocks and landscape, and are affected by sun, weather, temperature, humidity and water. Everything in an ecosystem is linked by nutrient cycles and energy flows. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Students will discover how to grow plants without using soil in a system called hydroponics. Hydroponics is a way to grow plants without soil. Hydroponics meets all the plant’s needs for L.A.W.N.S. (light, air, water, nutrients, space.) 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Discover how capillary action works with the Walking Water Experiment. Students will learn about capillary action. Plants couldn’t survive without capillary action. Capillary action is when a liquid, like water, moves up something solid, like a tube or into a material with a lot of small holes. Capillary action works against gravity because of three special forces called cohesion, adhesion and surface tension. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

This project is about growing flowering plants from bulbs. Bulbs usually emerge in early spring after a cold winter, bringing us leaves and lovely flowers. Can we get bulbs to bloom at other times? Bulbs can be “forced” to grow and flower in winter if they are chilled for a number of weeks, followed by giving them growing conditions that mimic springtime. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

How do plants know which way is up or down? In this project, you'll explore why roots grow straight down. How do roots grow when the direction of gravity changes? Do you think you can "trick" roots to grow in a different direction? 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Seeds are not the only way to grow a vegetable. Some plants like sweet potato can be grown from a tuber. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow from a tuber and a good way for students to learn about roots and shoots. Make drawings of your sweet potato experiment. One drawing when you start growing your sweet potato, another in 3weeks and the last one in 6 weeks. What differences do you notice?

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

What would our lives be like without plants? In this activity, students are thinking about everyday items made from plants and what life would be like without them. Which items that we use everyday are made from plants? Plants are in so many items we use everyday. The purpose of this activity is to think about items which are made from plants. Check ingredient lists or clothing tags to learn more, or look up items on line with the students and explore together. Figure out which part of a plant is used to make that item. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Light blocking experiment. What happens when you block light from a plant? Cut various shapes in aluminum foil and attach shapes to the leaf of a plant using paper clips. Leave the plant for a week and see what happens! The second part of this is coating the underside of a few leaves vaseline to starve it of carbon dioxide. This shows students carbon dioxide is also needed for photosynthesis and demonstrates effects similar to starving it of light.

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Plants are so much a part of our daily lives that we often don't give them much thought! In this project students will go through magazines and find items made from plants. Once these are found the students can make a collage of all the items they found. This is a fun, easy activity to teach students that plants are everywhere! 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

They’re tiny and annoying: minuscule black flies that swirl in your face when your plants are disturbed or open your worm bin. So hard to see that you’re not even sure it happened. What are they and how do you get rid of them? The usual suspects are either fungus gnats or fruit flies. They’re both tiny and can be hard to tell apart. Let’s look at what they are, what they do and learn how to tell the difference. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

An experiment to test if a plant can find its way through a box maze towards light. Will the sprout go around obstacles in the box to find its way out of the maze? Phototropism is an evolutionary adaptation that helps plants to move access light needed forphotosynthesis.

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Students will observe the production of oxygen by a plant by submerging a leaf underwater and observing oxygen bubbles form. In part 2, students will conduct a small experiment to see if the amount of light a plant receives affects the production of oxygen by plants. This experiment can be kept very simple for younger students to observe that plants produce oxygen or can be used as an exploration of photosynthesis for older students. Students can expand on their understanding of photosynthesis. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Create your own plants at home while using items around the house! If you don’t have any seeds or soil, this is a perfect activity! Students will learn about the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and demonstrate their learning about plant parts. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Students will act out the process of a seed sprouting. This is a great activity for teaching the life cycle of plants, and can be used as a body break from other activities! 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

This project is a simple demonstration that plants release water vapour through their leaves. Transpiration is the movement of water through a plant's system. Transpiration helps to cool the plant and the Earth; works together with respiration; and keeps plants upright. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

The natural growth of basil is tall and if not pruned, the plant will grow tall and leggy. Pruning causes the side shoots to grow and you end up with a fuller, bushier plant. In a LGT indoor garden this is important because a pruned basil plant fits better under the lighting, giving it more light for photosynthesis. Besides, a bushy plant looks good and produces more basil for your students to taste and sample! Students will learn about this phenomenon by comparing two basil plants, one that is pruned and one that is left to grow naturally 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Students will discover that many products that we use everyday, come from trees or plants. We know that a lot of our food comes from plants but it is important to know that there are other useful things that also come from plants. One example is clothing: much of it is made from cotton. We can find out what things are made of by looking at tags or labels and by reading the sides of boxes. 

This is a publicly available resource developed by the Little Green Thumbs program, a classroom gardening program. Learn more about the Little Green Thumbs program in your region.

Plants remove water and nutrients from the soil through the plant's root system. Some nutrients move into root cells from the soil by diffusion and others by an energy- requiring process (active transport). This diffusion activity represents one-way movement of dissolved nutrients into the plant roots.

This poster illustrates the elements that are essential to plants. It highlights the primary macronutrients, secondary macronutrients, and micronutrients.

Students explore the interconnections between plants, people and our planet. Lessons engage students in plant biology and processes, soil science, food waste and the implications for climate change through videos, hands-on activities and action-oriented reflections. Developed by Little Green Thumbs.

How are plants classified? How are different plants grown? How are foods imported? How do unfamiliar foods end up in our local grocery store? Answer these questions and more in this resource created by the National Science Teaching Association.

Spark inquiry in your students with this hands on activity. Students will grow a variety of types of rice, and record the similarities and differences of these plants throughout their lifecycle.

The Canadian Prairie offers a distinct environment for plants, animals and people that live here. This booklet is intended to provide an appreciation for the impact that settlement has had on Saskatchewan's prairie landscape.

Student's go on an outdoor scavenger hunt adventure to find Fall items such as leaves, seeds, and fruits. They will then connect the items they found on the scavenger hunt to the work done by farmers as seasons change. These discussions include harvest, differences in perennial and annual plants, need to maintain health of livestock in a cold winter, and more.

Not all soil is the same - even soil that looks similar can be very different. Soils contain different properties and different nutrients that plants use. Students will be given a sample of soil to inspect and identify differences they can see in the soil, including organic and inorganic material.