Homeschool Gardening for Child Development
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Explore various homeschool gardening activities for child development, including math games and gardening lesson plans.
by Wren Everett
Homeschool parents know that there are few subjects as dreaded and loathed by certain students as math. Never mind how many times we try to emphasize its necessity and usefulness — the moment inevitably comes when a teary-eyed child slumps in their chair, head to the table, and gives up (momentarily). As a former child who found math frustrating in school, I can empathize! However, as a current adult who knows these skills are vital, I also know that pushing through that frustration block is a challenge that must be faced.
I like to push through the frustration barrier with a strategy I picked up from a park ranger when I was an environmental educator: “Change of place, change of pace.” When little minds threaten to shut down, change your teaching location and either slow down or do something more active. You wouldn’t believe what a change that can make. And when it comes to math, “garden math” is my go-to when frustration is making the lessons a slog. I hope these ideas can breathe some literal life into your math lessons, connecting numbers to real-life skills in the garden (and maybe even putting some homegrown goodness on the table).
For each set of activities, I list some possible skills that may be learned. Keep in mind, however, that you can tailor the difficulty to match your little learner and that these are just ideas, not full lesson plans.
Garden Story Problems
Supplies Needed: game dice
You can use standard 6-sided dice for younger students, but the multiple-sided dice sets used for games like “Dungeons and Dragons” are excellent for older learners (and they often come in cool colors.)
Skills Taught: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions
I know, I know, as soon as some students see “story problem,” their eyes go up in their head, and sighs gust all over the table. But with dice to generate random numbers and a little creative twist, story problems can quickly become a favorite math activity. I enjoy writing my own stories, but if you need a literary boost, you can use characters and situations from Newberry Medal books (think Little House on The Prairie, Farmer Boy, Old Yeller, or Island of the Blue Dolphins). Or, for a different twist, you can use real-life situations from your own garden plot.
To make a garden story problem, all you need to do is create a situation and let the dice generate random numbers for your little learner. Here’s a brief example of how I do it. (Note: any time you see “#” that’s a cue for the student to roll their die or series of dice to generate a number).
“(Child’s name) is out planting peas for the spring. He has a packet of # x # seeds. He decides to plant them all. All but # of the seeds sprout. Then, rabbits eat half of the sprouts! The remaining sprouts grow big and strong, and each plant makes # pods. How many pea pods does (child’s name) end up with?”
You can make the story problems as long, short, realistic, or silly as you want. (I personally enjoy having random animals appear and cause havoc on the poor garden plot).
Seed Shopping
Supplies Needed: gardening catalogs
Skills Taught: addition, multiplication, money, budgeting, rounding
Curling up with a stack of seed catalogs and dreaming garden dreams in the dead of winter is one of my favorite cozy activities. Those catalogs, however, are a great resource for teaching math and the real-world skill of planning a budget. Consider the following activities:
Give your students an imaginary budget (say, $25) and have them go on a “shopping spree” through the seed catalog. Have them factor in shipping and handling and see what they can buy while staying under budget.
Tell your students they need to buy a certain number of pre-selected varieties through the magazine. Have them search through to find them, then add up the total cost of ordering those seeds.
For real-world experience, let your student order a seed packet or two through the catalog, but instead of ordering online, have them fill out the form at the back of the catalog and do it 1980s-style. Let them practice their handwriting, fill out their address and contact information, and calculate the total for whatever seeds they order. It seems simple, but you wouldn’t believe what kind of anticipation kiddos can build up when they get to order their very own items through the mail in this way.
Garden Planning Worksheets
Supplies Needed: graph paper, ruler, T-square
Skills Taught: calculating area, measuring, multiplication, drafting
The basic premise of this activity is to have students draft an imaginary garden and then calculate its area. For little learners, use graph paper to give them an easy-to-count grid while calculating area. For older students, you can make more complex garden plots or even have them carefully draw the gardens they create with a ruler and T-square to practice their drafting and measuring. You can create the gardens for them to measure, or the students themselves can be given a maximum square footage and then be allowed to design their own gardens. For ultimate real-world applications, have them measure a real garden and calculate its actual square footage.
Estimated Yields and Actual Yields
Supplies Needed: actual garden, composition book or garden journal
Skills Taught: estimation, multiplication, measuring, percentages, record-keeping
This is the most hands-on lesson, but it’s well worth the trouble. You can tie all the previous lessons together with this one by having your students select and order their seeds, plan out their gardens, and then, at last, plant them and record what happens through the planting season. Having a dedicated garden journal or notebook is a great way to keep everything organized (and it’s an excellent habit to foster in future gardeners).
In this lesson (or series of lessons), have your students plan out their entire garden plot. Then, have them estimate how many seeds they’d need to plant and how many fruits and vegetables each resulting individual plant should give them (they may need a rough estimate from you to get rolling, even if you’re just guessing). Then, based on the number of plants they’ve planned, have them estimate the total yield they believe their garden will give. You can have them estimate in individual fruits (for big vegetables like squash) or in pounds (for smaller-sized plants like peas).
Then, let them put their plan into action and plant the actual plants they’ve planned. There’s nothing like real life to make all the math reveal its relevance, especially to reluctant learners. Throughout the gardening season, have them keep records of what happened, everything from drawing their setup to documenting pest losses and recording harvest yields. See if their initial estimates were close or way off.
And, best of all, enjoy the fruits of your homeschooling labors, whether they be found in sun-warmed tomatoes, fun math lessons, or the “aha!” moment of a student who finally understands a practical way to put all these numbers into practice.
Wren Everett and her husband quit their teaching jobs in the city and moved back to the land on 12 acres in the Ozarks. There, they are learning to live as modern peasants: off-grid, as self-sufficient as possible, and quite happily.
Originally published in the May/June 2025 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
