What Younger Kids Can Learn at Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

The following is a guest post from my friend Megan at EducationPossible.

Spring has arrived in Florida with the return of the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. The Disney horticulturists have installed over 100 topiary, more than 200 floating mini gardens, and millions of special blooms.

This festival is the perfect excuse for homeschooling families to take their learning outside.

Did you know that you can study a lot more than botany while at Epcot?

Here are ideas for how to combine your learning with some pixie dust to give your younger homeschooler a fun day of education at the festival.

Subjects to Explore with your Elementary Student

Colors

This festival is full of bright, vibrant blooms, in every color of the rainbow. This makes it the perfect place to work on color recognition and mastery.

There is even a color wheel, built out of flowers, to teach kids all about primary colors as well as the difference between complimentary, analogous, and tertiary colors.

Math

There are endless things to count at this festival. Your child can count the number of petals on a flower, topiaries she sees, butterflies in the butterfly house, or tea cups in the English Garden, to name a few.

You can even focus on some mental math skills (addition/subtraction) with the items you’ve counted. How many more planters did you see in Italy than in the United Kingdom?

Language Arts

Why not play some word games while you’re walking around the festival? Go through the alphabet and see how many plants you can find that start with each letter. Or once you find a plant that catches your eye, name other similar plants that start with that letter (can use items outside the festival).

For example, if you stop and look at the pineapple, see how many other edible plants you can think of that start with the letter “p,” like parsley, potato, and papaya. Now you are not only working on letter recognition, but also categorizing and recollection.

Critical Thinking

In Radiator Springs, Disney has provided a scavenger hunt – large signs that reveal items that Tow Mater has lost and need to be found.

There is also a free “Garden Passport” that can be picked up, which encourages you and your family to travel around the festival getting stamps. Let your child be the guide so she has to figure out how to get all of the stamps.

Gardening

Many kids have a natural passion for gardening. This is a wonderful place to light that spark, and then bring the excitement home to plant something together and watch it grow. On our Science – Botany and Nature Pinterest board, there are lots of fun ideas for children to further explore this subject.

Literature

There are so many great books that center on gardens and the animals that inhabit them. Read some books before and after your visit to bring the stories to life.

As you can see, there are many possibilities for bringing your younger student’s learning to the festival, making it a bit more magical.

If you have an older student, check out my ideas for subjects they can study while at Epcot.

What is your favorite way to take your learning outside of the home?

Megan Zechman

I love homeschooling! Learning is a way of life for our family. Most days you will find us exploring our Central Florida community, having fun while learning. I am constantly looking for new and interactive ways to engage my children. Pinterest is one of my favorite tools for finding fun, hands-on learning activities. Connect with me @Pinterest. — Megan Zechman megan@educationpossible.com