Nursery World - Under the sun

A story of friendship and flowers leads children naturally into creating their own gardens. Jean Evans explains how Mabel's Magical Garden by Paula Metcalf (Macmillan Children's Books, 5.99) is about friendship, sharing and the magic of nature.

Mabel's Magical Garden by Paula Metcalf (Macmillan Children's Books, Pounds 5.99) is about friendship, sharing and the magic of nature.

When Mabel suspects her friends Nigel and George of stealing flowers from her garden, she is furious and builds a wall around her garden to keep them out. But the wall is so high that not even the sun can get in and her flowers start to wilt and die. When a bird persuades Mabel to look over the wall, she finds her friends standing in a meadow of flowers, which they all enjoy together.

During the project, encourage the children to consider the consequences of actions by considering the lengths that Mabel goes to exclude her best friends from her garden when she thinks that they have been stealing her beautiful flowers.

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