If You Plant a Seed

A photo of a picture book cover. A rabbit and a mouse look intently at a small sprout coming out of the ground. The title "If You Plant a Seed" is written in green text at the top, and at the bottom of the cover it says "words and paintings by Kadir Nelson."
If You Plant a Seed, by Kadir Nelson

REVIEW

If you plant a tomato, carrot, or cabbage seed, then in time, with patience and care, tomato, carrot, and cabbage plants will grow. If you plant a seed of selfishness, it will also grow and grow into something ugly and awful. But what if you plant a seed of kindness? This beautiful book shows that even small acts of kindness can make a big difference, spreading happiness far and wide and making the world a more beautiful place. Kadir Nelson’s gorgeous paintings bring this simple message to life in a beautiful way that children and adults will absolutely love.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does the rabbit act selfishly in the beginning of the story? What do you think selfish means? How does being selfish make others feel?
  2. How do you think planting a seed of kindness can make the world a better place? Do you think being kind makes others want to be kind too? Why or why not?
  3. Why are all of the animals happy at the end of the book?

Cause and Effect activity idea

Write down some different ways to be kind with your child. Try to be as specific as possible (ie; “sharing my toy cars with my little brother” rather than “sharing”). Cut out oval “seeds” out of construction paper, and write down an act of kindness on each seed. Then glue the seeds down on a larger piece of paper and draw a stem and a big flower growing from each seed. Inside the flower, write or draw one positive effect that could happen as a result of the small act of kindness. For example, the seed might say “share my toy cars with my little brother” and the flower might say “we have fun playing together.” Little ones can just draw a picture, and older kids can draw or write their ideas.

Photo by icon0.com on Pexels.com

Click Here to purchase this book on Amazon (affiliate link)

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