Florida Wildflower Foundation resources:
- Planning your school garden (Practical information on wildflower gardens and creating garden teams with volunteers)
- Linking your garden to your curriculum (Ideas for creating curriculum goals and projects that incorporate your campus wildflower garden)
- Wild About Wildflowers! Activity Guide (A 139-page activity guide addressing Florida native wildflowers and their purpose and place in Florida’s unique habitats. Activities are correlated to third- and fourth-grade standards but are amenable to all grade levels.)
- Wildflower Crossword Puzzle (Grades 3–5)
- Wildflower Maze (Grades K–2)
- Wildflower Word Search (Grades 3–5)
- Flower Friday (200+ wildflower profiles)
Order seeds for your garden:
Wildflower videos:
- Native Florida Wildflowers, Part 1
- Native Florida Wildflowers, Part 2
- Protecting Florida Wildflowers (by NatureWise TV)
- Landscaping with Florida Native Wildflowers (by NatureWise TV)
Choosing wildflower species for your garden:
- Guide for Choosing Native Wildflowers and Plants
- 20 Easy-to-Grow Wildflowers
- 12 Steps to establish a small planting of native wildflowers from seed
- Attracting wildlife with Florida’s native wildflowers
- Easy-to-grow Florida wildflowers
- Great wildflowers for your dry landscape
- Establishing a small planting of native wildflowers from seed, Dr. Jeff Norcini
- Recognizing Small Wildflower Seedlings, OecoHort, LLC
UF/IFAS Extension offices:
- To find your local extension agent or office, visit solutionsforyourlife.ifas.ufl.edu/map/.
Classroom and garden activities:
- Florida Wildflowers and Butterflies Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida (Click on photos for identification and gardening information)
- School garden resources and grants, Sarasota County IFAS Extension
- Florida Automated Weather Network Factsheet (Calculate the proper amount of water needed for irrigation)
- Kids Gardening (Lesson plans, activities)
- A Nature Art Journal by Elizabeth Smith (Nature art journal template and coloring pages)
Classroom environmental education:
- Sustainability Superheroes Investigate the Birds, Bees, Flowers, and Trees University Of South Florida College Of Education and USF’s Patel College for Global Sustainability
- Celebrating Wildflowers US Forest Service
- League for Environmental Educators of Florida (LEEF)
- Center for Invasive Species (Learn about and report invasive plants and animals in Florida)
- Marvelous Explorations Through Science and Stories: MESS® Florida Museum of Natural History (Science-centered curriculum for 3–5 year olds)
- Project Budburst Chicago Botanical Gardens (Investigate climate change through plant phenology)
- Project Learning Tree University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (Educational resources and guides for early childhood, elementary, middle and high school)
- St. Johns River Water Management District Teacher Resources
- Southeast Environmental Education Alliance (SEEA)
Butterflies:
- Butterfly curriculum collection Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
- Live Monarch (Raise a butterfly online)
- Monarch Joint Venture University of Minnesota (Help collect longterm national data)
Other insects:
- Pollinator profiles Florida Wildflower Foundation
- Million Pollinator Garden Challenge (Register public and private gardens to support pollinators)
- Northeast Florida’s Native Bees (Gardening for bees in Northeast Florida; native bee identification)
- Dragonfly Pondwatch (Register your pond and track dragonflies)
- Florida Bug Club University of Florida, Entomology Department
- Bumblebee Watch (Identify and track North American bumblebees)
Birds:
- Guide to North American Birds National Audubon Society
- Plants for Birds National Audubon Society
- North American Bird Guide National Audubon Society (smartphone app)
Amphibians and reptiles:
- Kids’ Corner University of Florida, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation (Amphibian and reptile coloring and activity books)
- How to Make a Treefrog House University of Florida, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation
- Gopher Tortoise Program Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Help document gopher tortoise sightings)
Links to school gardening sites:
- Kids Gardening
- The Science Spot (Science activities for junior high school students)
- National Wildlife Federation — Teaching with Schoolyard Habitats
- National Wildlife Federation — Ensuring Success for your Schoolyard Habitat
- Junior Master Gardeners
- Pollinator Partnership
Links to Florida wildflower and native plant information:
- Florida Wildflower Foundation
- Florida Wildflower Growers Association
- Plant Real Florida
- Florida Association of Native Nurseries
- Florida Native Plant Society
Grants and other resources:
- Blue School Grant Program St Johns River Water Management District
- Kids Gardening
- Green Education Foundation
- Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Grants
- Cornell University BirdSleuth K-12 School Garden Grants
Children’s books on gardening and nature in Florida:
- The Florida Scrub Coloring Book, Mark Deyrup & Kevina Vulinec
- The Nature of Florida’s Neighborhoods: Including Bats, Scrub jays, Lizards and Wildflowers, Cathie Katz and Jim Angy
- Creatures and Plants in Florida: Education for Everyone Series, Jacqueline Gonzalez
- National Audubon Society First Field Guide Series, Chanticleer Press
- The Tiny and Tough Miami Blue Butterfly, Geena M. Hill and Sarah Steele Cabrera, Florida Museum of Natural History (coloring book)
Children’s books on nature education:
- On One flower: Butterflies, Ticks and a Few More,Anthony Fredericks (Grade K–4)
- A Kid’s Ecojournal Series, Toni Albert
- Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of a Scientific Discovery from your own Backyard, Loree Griffin Burns and Ellen Harasimowicz
- Homes for Wildlife: A Planning Guide for Habitat Enhancement on School Grounds, Marilyn C. Wyzga
- Greening School Grounds — Creating Habitats for Learning, Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn (Grades K–12)
- Interpreting the Great Outdoors: Wildflower Series, Beverly Magley
- The Nature Connection — An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families and Classrooms, Claire W. Leslie
- Restoring Wetlands (Let’s Explore Science), Jeanne Sturm
- The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America’s First Naturalist, Deborah Kogan Ray
- My Schoolyard Garden, Steve Rich (Grades K–3)
Other children’s books:
- The Tiny Seed, Eric Carle
- Hare and the Big Green Lawn. K.C. Robey & L MacDougall
- Big Yellow Sunflower. Frances Barry (Ages 3–8)
- Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move, JoAnn Early Macken
- Mother Earth and her Children, Sybil Van Offers & S. Shoen-Smith (Ages 4–12)
- A Seed is Sleepy, Dianna Hutts Aston (Ages 4–12)
- Once Around the Sun, Bobbi Katz & LeUyen Pham (Ages 4–12)
- From Seed to Plant, Gail Gibbons
- Roots Shoots Buckets Boots: Gardening Together with Children, Sharon Lovejoy
- Gardening with Children (Brooklyn Botanical Garden), Hanneman, Hulse, Johnson, Kurland, Patterson
- The Curious Garden, Peter Brown
- Echoes for the Eye: Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature, Barbara J. Esbensen
- Saving the Seeds of Wonder, Marc Rogers
- Garden Crafts for Kids: 50 Great Reasons to get your Hands Dirty, Diane Rhodes
- Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
Identification guides and websites:
- All About Birds, Cornell University Lab of Ornithology (Online bird guide, bird ID help and bird sounds)
- Flower Friday, Florida Wildflower Foundation (250+ wildflower profiles)
(Resources updated 12/2020)
