Growing Vegetable Soup

One of our favorite things to make from our garden is vegetable soup, and Lois Ehlert’s book Growing Vegetable Soupis perfect to read before this activity. Graphic images illustrate the text about the entire process from seed to the cooking pot, helping children make the connection between the food they eat and the garden/farm. The artwork is somewhat abstract, so this book may not be the best choice if your goal is to teach children what plants actually look like. However, children familiar with gardening and plants will enjoy this tale and its accompanying recipe for vegetable soup. The simple, bold illustrations do provide a model for creating gardening based art with children.