DIY Homeschooler

Plants and Their Children by Mrs. William Starr Dana is an introduction to plants for younger children. The free public domain title includes everything you need to study plants through from the beginning of the year to the summer holiday.

The author claimed that a book written for children should secure practice in reading, amusement, and instruction. In this title she recommends:

1. As the book is arranged so as to begin with the opening of the school year and to follow it to its close, the interest of pupils will be increased by reading the different chapters during the seasons to which they refer.
2. The teacher should exercise judgment as to the omission of any chapter or group of chapters which may seem beyond the comprehension of the class. With a little care, such an omission may nearly always be made without injury to the usefulness of the rest of the book.
3. Specimens of the objects described, when these can be found in the locality, should always be on exhibition in the schoolroom. Whenever possible, the children themselves should collect and handle these specimens. If for any reason this collection by the children cannot be accomplished, the teacher should not fail to anticipate the readings, and to provide the objects mentioned.

With this in mind, the book covers:

• Fruits and seeds.
• Young plants.
• Roots and stems.
• Buds.
• Leaves.
• Flowers.

The lessons are pretty short and there are many wonderful illustrations throughout that will help explain the concepts, making the title perfect for antsy younger readers. The concepts can be reinforced with oral narrations. Slightly older children can read along and create a plant notebook.

You will also find that this title tracks perfectly with the plant section of our free nature studies series.

Free eBook

• Read online
• PDF
• Various formats (EPUB, Kindle)

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Additional Resources

64 Free Nature Study Books
With an entire section on plants.