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• Dragon Tales - "Green Thumbs"
  When a baby flower gets uprooted by the rain, the gang has to figure out how to keep her healthy and happy. They find out that, in addition to soil, Lily needs sun and water to live-just not too much! The friends find help for Lily's and plant her back in the ground where she belongs.
• Reading Rainbow - "Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus"
  This is the story of the life cycle and ecosystem of the giant saguaro cactus and the animals it helps to support in the desert. In the video LeVar explains the life and seasons of the desert. Inhabitants including jackrabbits, bobcats, Gila monsters, a javelina pig and woodpeckers are a few featured in this segment. He explores how the cactus adapts to the heat and scarcity of water, and explains the appropriate dress for people in a hot, dry climate. A "snake man" gives a close-up look at rattlesnakes.

Do in Class

• Arthur: Green Thumb - Invite children to grow their own bean plants. Talk with children about plants, explaining that they need water and light to live.
• Barney: Plant Seeds - Plant and observe a growing seed.
• Between the Lions: Nature Buddies - Bring a "plant pal" or pet rock into your home.
• Clifford: "Eggcellent" Ideas! - Create a unique and "eggcellent" indoor grass garden.
• Clifford: Planting Seeds of Respect - Plant small containers with welcoming plants.
• Jay Jay The Jet Plane: Lets Think About...Plants - Use these 5 activities to teach students some facts about plants.
  
• Reading Rainbow: Once There Was a Tree - Use a sponge to grow bean sprouts.
• ZOOM: Coloring Flowers - Change the color of a flower with this simple experiment.
• ZOOM: Sock Seeds - Collect seeds while walking around outside in your socks. Then plant your socks to find out what kinds of plants are growing around you.

Play Online

• Dragonfly TV: Weebit World - Adjust variables to determine how fast plants grow, and then feed the plants to a community of weebits to cause the weebits to multiply.
• PBS Parents Guide to Creativity: Window Boxes - Drag images of flowers into a virtual window box. Discuss the various ways to arrange the flowers.

Read

• One Bean
  By Anne Rockwell and Megan Halsey
  Published April 1999 by Walker & Co
  Rockwell and Halsey's text presents a clear account of seed germination and plant growth for very young botanists. Richly detailed illustration brings the story to life.
• Pumpkin Pumpkin
  By Jeanne Titherington
  Published September 1990 by HarperTrophy
  A boy grows a pumpkin from seed to huge pumpkin which he carves into a jack-o-lantern, saving some seeds to plant next year. Seasons and the plant cycle are introduced in this realistically illustrated book.

*As most PBS children's programs offer one year extended taping rights for teachers, please feel free to tape them now and save them for use in your classroom during the school year.