Gardens can provide an excellent opportunity for the children to develop their skills and understanding across the curriculum. Working in science, the children can identify some of the different classes of animals that might make a garden their home such as mammals, birds and insects. They can practise grouping and classifying animals by their characteristics and build databases of animals that they have identified. The children can explore animals that live in different habitats in a garden such as under a garden log and on some bushes. The children can also develop art and design skills by practising drawing and painting examples of garden animals using a variety of media such as charcoal, water colours and pastels. They can produce sculptures of animals that might live in a garden by collecting and using natural materials such as leaves, twigs and pebbles. The children can also try writing poems to describe some of the animals that live in a garden. They can create Kennings to describe mystery animals or write Haikus using only a set number of syllables about a particular animal.

	What Butterfly Teaching activities to get the children to identify and describe similarities and differences between types of butterfly that might visit a family garden. They can suggest vocabulary that could be used to describe different butterflies. Suitable for Reception
	Garden Art Art and Design activities to help the children practise using different natural materials found in a garden to create different pieces of art. They can use the natural materials to create sculptures of insects and birds that might visit a garden. . Suitable for Year 1
	Animal Hide Science lesson plan to help the children identify, describe and compare different animals that live in a garden habitat. They can make a hide to use when working in the garden identifying and classifying animals. Suitable for Year 2
	Animal Kenning English activity to help the children select vocabulary to write a Kenning poem that describes an animal. They can practise combining different classes of words to build phrases that can describe particular animals. . Suitable for Year 3/4
	Life Cycles Science lesson plan to help the children identify and record the life cycles of different animals that live in a family garden. They can explore how birds, amphibians and insects change during their lives. Suitable for Year 5/6