Many of you have probably received one of the beautiful books labeling parts of an animal or plant created by your child at school. Creating such a book is an engaging activity that allows the child to color and practice writing (and possible reading) while learning useful, scientific vocabulary. Here is a link to a website that provides a variety of options to make such books at home: https://sites.google.com/site/thehelpfulgardendownloads/science/life-sciences/botany/primary-nomenclature
There are various activities that can be done using the provided files. The files that show the example book (the colored nomenclature cards), provide both an example of each page of the book identifying the parts by label and colored illustration (which you can use as a template for making your own book) and another set of cards which allow you to cut the label from the illustration (on the right side of each page). For those children who are practicing reading, you can cut out the illustrations and labels separately, and work with them on labeling each individual illustration. This activity looks something like this (with the appropriate label matched under the appropriate image): https://www.montessorialbum.com/montessori/images/thumb/9/92/3_Part_Cards.JPG/300px-3_Part_Cards.JPG
You will also notice that for each set of nomenclature cards a black and white printout is also provided. You can create your own book using this print out, asking the child to color the appropriate part of the fruit/plant and labeling it below. You will notice that the printouts even provide a traceable label below each image (or you can help the child write their own). (SEE ATTACHED IMAGES FOR EXAMPLE)
To make it more engaging, you can first explore the actual plant. For example, before creating the book featuring the apple, take an actual apple and cut it in half, pointing out all of the various parts that will later be colored and labeled in the book (same can be done for the tree, leaf, flower, etc. available on the website). You can then eat the apple for a snack!
