Counting Books in the Garden

The weather is warming up and we are ready to grow in the garden!  There are so many wonderful literacy activities to do while playing outdoors.  Today, I’m sharing garden counting books for toddlers and young children.

Counting Books About the Garden for Toddlers and Young Children

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One Whole Bunch by Mary Meyer is a beautiful little counting book full of flowers. Start with 10 lavender stems and count your way down to…you guessed it…1 whole bunch. Hard board book pages feel luscious to the touch. You’ll definitely want to head outside to admire all the flowers in your area.

Nana’s Garden by Larissa Juliano explores the colors of the garden as well as counting items in the garden.

Garden Safari Vegetable Soup by Moore, Puzniak and Welsh is the second book in the Kitchen Club Kids series.  I reviewed their book, End of the Rainbow Fruit Salad, previously.  This rhyming book teaches little ones about counting (1 to 10), colors and gathering vegetables from the garden to make vegetable soup.  At the end of the story, you will find a recipe for Garden Safari Vegetable Soup to make with the kids.  The next book in the Kitchen Club Kids series will be Feed Your Senses Homemade Bread.

From the Garden:  A Counting Book About Growing Food by Michael Dahl will have kids counting from 1 to 12 as vegetables are gathered to make a salad.

Counting in the Garden by Emily and Patrick Hubry takes little ones counting from 1 to 12.  On each page, a new plant or animal is introduced.  Though it is a board book, I prefer it for the toddler/preschool crowd.  The illustrations are beautiful.

I love Julia Donaldson’s books.  One Mole Digging a Hole is a counting tale about all the animals helping in the garden.  It starts with one mole digging and moves through the garden to the bees pruning the trees.  This one is also for the youngest readers.  The number on each page is big and bold, and there is lots of rhyming text.

10 Hungry Rabbits:  Counting and Color Conceptsby Anita Lobel has ten little rabbits on a mission in the garden to find vegetables for Mama Rabbit’s soup pot.  Little ones will enjoy this counting book and the opportunity to practice color recognition.

Ten Seeds by Ruth Brown is a backwards counting book starting at ten and working down to one.  It’s a fun twist on what happens to seeds when animals find them!  This book works well for different ages.  There isn’t a lot of text, which will keep the interest of younger children.  However, the illustrations will engage older readers.  It’s a nice counting twist!

One Watermelon Seed by Celia Lottridge takes young readers on a seed counting exploration in the garden.  Young children will practice counting from 1 to 10 in this brightly illustrated story.  I’m ready to break open a watermelon and start counting!

Over in the Garden by Jennifer Ward is set to the song, “Over in the Meadow”.  Kids will explore numbers 1 to 10 as they are introduced to the animals that live in the garden.

The Icky Bug Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta will delight all bug lovers.  Lots of facts about insects as well as counting practice.

Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base would be most enjoyed by the older kids.  This talented illustrator has jam-packed pictures just begging kids to count items found in the garden.

Do you have a favorite counting book that takes place in the garden?

Printable Book List of Counting Books in the Garden

Grab a printable book list of the books above.  It’s great for taking to the library or in your lesson plan binder.

Looking for more books about gardening?  Check out the Dig Into Gardening and Then Make Soup post.  More books about growing vegetables.  Each book includes a recipe for soup!

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