Summer is a warm and wonderful season. The days are long and the nights are balmy. Summer is vacation time. It’s time for splashing in the pool, hiking in the mountains, or just enjoying the lazy days of summer. Of course, we need to teach our kids about summer! To help save you time, we’ve compiled lots of really good reasources to help you teach about this sunsational season.
Understanding Why We Have Seasons
Whether you’re teaching about winter, spring, summer or fall, make sure your students understand why we have seasons. Simply put, it is the tilt of Earth’s axis that causes the seasons. So, if the North Pole is tilted toward the sun, it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. And when the South Pole tilts toward the sun, the opposite happens. There are plenty of great nonfiction books and YouTube videos that can help your students understand this.
Nonfiction Books about Seasons
Here are two good books that explain why we have seasons. Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley & Michael Rex. This book has a fun science activity at the end, which uses an orange and a flashlight to demonstrate why we have seasons. The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons. Both books are long, so I suggest reading only the parts you find helpful. If you would like to purchase either book from Amazon, simply click on the linked title.
*This page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we will get a small commission with no additional cost to you.
Videos about Seasons
You can also watch a good science video to learn about why we have the seasons. Here are two videos that I recommend.
Seasons and the Sun: Crash Course Kids 11.1 (3:56): This video is engaging, packed full of great information and under four minutes.
Why Are There Seasons? From SciShow Kids (2:20): I just love this SciShow Kids episode, where Jessi and Squeaks (a robotic mouse) explain why we have seasons in a way that kinders will understand.
Let’s Teach About Summer
We’ve created our own sunsational Summer Science Unit for kindergarten. This four-day unit answers the questions: What is summer? What’s the weather like in summer? What happens to plants in summer? What do animals do in summer? Which activities do people do in summer? Each lesson comes with its own digital slideshow, along with detailed lesson plans. There are also vocabulary cards, printable differentiated writing templates, a student summer journal and more. Purchase this Summer Science Unit and you’re done! But for those who want to design their own summer unit, keep reading.
Books, Books and More Books!
You need some really good books to create a delightful and informative summer season unit. Whether it’s nonfiction or fiction, books are a great way to teach kids about summer and you can pair them with a fun writing, math, or art activity. Fortunately, you don’t have to buy them all. Many of them are read online. You can also borrow books from your local library. But if you’re like me, you’re going to want to have them in your own collection. Therefore, we’ve linked the titles to Amazon for a quick and easy purchase.
Summer Nonfiction Books
Good nonfiction books about summer are a must. Reading and discussing nonfiction is a great way to teach children about summer. Of course, they already know a lot about summer, so this is also a wonderful way for them to make connections and construct meaning. Here are some teacher approved nonfiction books about summer.
Summer by Tanya Thayer
What Can You See In Summer? by Sian Smith
Both of these books have beautiful photographs and very simple text. Great for inspiring a class book about summer.
How Do We Know It Is Summer? by Molly Aloian
How Do You Know It’s Summer? by Ruth Owen
I really liked both books. With beautiful photographs and short chapters packed full of information, these two little books are great resources for teaching about summer.
Online Summer Nonfiction Books
What Can You See In Summer? (2:17)
Summer Themed Books
There are so many wonderful children’s books about summer to choose from. Pair them with a fun after reading activity and your summer unit will be FUNtastic. Here are some of my favorites.
Summer is Here! by Heidi Pross Gray
Poetic text with beautiful watercolor illustrations let us know that summer is here.
Summer Song by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Ddronzek
With lyrical words and vibrant illustrations, this book celebrates the season.
And Then Comes Summer by Tom Brenner, illustrated by Jaime Kim
This joyful book describes the adventures that await children when summer comes.
I Am Bee by Rebecca McDonald and James McDonald
This delightful book explains the importance of bees with big bright illustrations and engaging text. After all, what is summer without bees?
Online Summer Themed Books
More Online Resources
Looking online for resources to complete your summer unit can be overwhelming. Here are some teacher approved videos that will complement any summer science unit.
Informative Summer Videos
Learn About Summer for Kids: Summer Solstice, seasons, weather for preschool and kindergarten (6:46)
This video has great information about the summer season delivered in a fun and entertaining way by Mr. Kipley and his adorable puppets.
All About Summer for Kids! | Summer Weather | Changing Seasons | Twinkl USA (3:25)
This short video is full of good information about summer including: the solstice, weather, plants and animals.
Summer Movement Videos
Fun Summer Activities in Kindergarten
Easy Summer Art
The following art projects are fun and help students learn about shapes while practicing fine motor and cutting skills. Each student’s art will be unique. You can decorate your room or send them home to let parents know what you are studying. We’ve paired them with some terrific books. If you are looking for more summer crafts read our blog 10 Simple Summer Crafts.
Busy Bee Cut and Glue
A bee is a great insect to represent summer. This adorable cut and glue bee is fun, and you can combine it with a great read aloud like I Am Bee by Rebecca McDonald and James McDonald.
You will need to pre-cut the following construction paper for your students. Model step by step as your students follow along. Be sure to practice making one before you make one with your kids.
Summer Tear Art for Kindergarten
Having students rip paper is great for developing fine motor coordination. It also makes for some wonderful art. The summer tree goes well with the book Summer Song by Kevin Henkes. And the watermelon goes great with everything!
Summer Math Activities
Graphing is a great math activity to add when teaching about summer. You can graph the weather or your favorite summer things; insects, ice cream, summer activities. Make a class graph and then have your students analyze the data.
Let's Write about Summer
There are so many ways to incorporate writing into your summer unit. Below are a few examples. Use our free writing template and have your students write about what they see in summer. This goes great with the book What Can You See In Summer? by Sian Smith. You can get the writing template for FREE. Another great writing activity is for your students to go outside and use their senses to experience summer. After which they record their observations. The Signs of Summer recording sheet is also FREE.
More Seasonal Fun Activities for Kindergarten
– LeighAnn
