The days are getting longer. The weather is getting warmer and the fragrant smell of apple blossoms fills the air. It’s spring! Time for teaching about this glorious season. To help save you time, we’ve compiled lots of really good spring activities for kids.
Understanding Why We Have Seasons
If your students don’t understand why we have seasons or they need a review, it’s important to start with a good nonfiction book which explains why we have seasons. Gail Gibbons The Reasons for the Seasons is one such book. Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley & Michael Rex is not only a good book, but also has a fun science activity which uses an orange and a flashlight to demonstrate why we have seasons. Both books are long, so I suggest reading only the parts you find helpful.
Also, you can watch a good science video about why we have the seasons. Here are two 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 4 minutes.
Why Are There Seasons? From SciShow Kids (2:20): I love SciShow Kids videos, where fast-talking Jessi, along with her robotic mouse Squeaks, answer the question, “Do you know why?”. In addition to being fun this video explains why we have seasons in a way that kinders will understand.
Let's Learn About Spring
If your children already understand why we have seasons (GREAT), you can read them a favorite nonfiction book specifically about spring. Your local library will be happy to provide you with many of these. Thank goodness for the public library. If you call ahead most libraries will put together a basket of books specifically for your grade level. What a fun job! You can also find some great read alouds and spring science videos on YouTube. Reading and discussing nonfiction books is a great spring activity for kids.
Online Nonfiction Spring Books
Below are some of my favorite nonfiction spring books, which also happen to be online.
The book I Am Spring by Rebecca and James McDonald is wonderful. It’s full of good information and the illustrations are gorgeous. Here is a book you’ll want to own, but below is an online version, just in case.
Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum is a National Geographic Kids book. This book is beautifully written; “Spring nudges awake slumbering trees.” And the photography is stunning!
Everything Spring (2:47)
How Do You Know It’s Spring? By Ruth Owens: This book has real photographs, labeled diagrams and of lots of information about what happens in the spring.
Teacher Approved Spring Videos
From Annemieke van Leeuwen, here are two beautiful spring nature videos, no words, just spectacular images and lovely music.
Happy Equinox! | Science for Kids (4:01): From SciShow Kids, in this video Jessie and Squeaks explain the spring equinox.
Seasons for Kids: What Happens in Spring? | Spring for Kids (3:28): Learn all about Spring from this United Kingdom video (thank goodness the UK is in the northern hemisphere). It’s full of fun facts and beautiful spring video clips.
SPRING for KIDS! | Animals in Spring (2:20): This short video is full of lots of information about spring and what animals are doing during this season.
Great Picture Books for Spring
Great read alouds make wonderful spring activities for kids. A GREAT read aloud is when you not only read and thoughtfully discuss the book, but also add a fun art activity designed specifically for the book you have chosen. For more information on how to make your read alouds great, read our blog 3 Steps to Create Meaningful Experiences Through Read Aloud. Here are some of my favorite stories about spring with links to the books on Amazon, as well as an online read aloud version.
Hamilton Duck’s Springtime Story by Arthur Getz. This book is out of print, but it is one of my favorites. In this adorable story Hamilton Duck goes for a spring walk and confuses the blowing blossoms with a snowstorm. Silly duck.
When Spring Comes is another delightful book by the award-winning author Kevin Henkes. The illustrator is the acclaimed painter, Laura Dronzek. Together they have created a lovely book with all the freshness that is spring.
When Will It Be Spring by Catherine Walters is an adorable story about Alfie, a little bear who’s having trouble sleeping through the winter. He keeps confusing his mother’s detailed descriptors of spring with winter happenings. Adorable characters, pretty pictures and descriptive text make this a must have book.
You’ll love Mouse’s First Spring by Lauren Thompson. With words like glittery and flittery and rumply and bumply, who can resist this adorable story of little Mouse’s first spring.
Mouse’s First Spring (4:42)
I was delighted when I found this book at my favorite children’s bookstore. Splish, Splash, Spring is written by Jan Carr and illustrated by Dorothy Donohue. With it’s rhyming, lyrical text and bright, beautiful cut paper illustrations, it is the perfect book to inspire young artists to make spring flowers of their own.
First Day of Spring Activities for Kids
A great spring art activity gets children excited for learning about spring. I love creating a blossoming tree with my students. Of course, where I live, the trees aren’t blossoming on the first day of spring, so we read a story and I show them pictures. I have a gorgeous crabapple tree in my backyard, and I tell the students all about it. I talk about how excited I am for it to blossom. They close their eyes and try to imagine the lovely magenta flowers with the fragrant smell. Now we are ready to make the blossoming tree.
Making a Blossoming Tree
To make the blossoming tree, either have a bare tree already printed on light blue construction paper or do a directed drawing with your children so they can draw their own; directed drawing is a step-by-step approach to teaching children how to draw. Have them color the tree first and then glue scrunched up pieces of pink or white or yellow tissue paper (I precut them into 1 ½ inch squares) onto the tree. You can also have them paste precut brown construction paper rectangles of different sizes to make the bare tree. The result is lovely. Pair this with an adorable book like Hamilton Duck’s Springtime Story by Arthur Getz or When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes and you will have a fantastic first day of spring!
Making Spring Flowers
Making beautiful spring flowers is also a great first day of spring activity. Start with colorful rectangles (about 2 by 3 inches); teach your kiddos how to cut petals out of these small rectangles. Have larger green rectangles for leaves and a stem. Model how to cut the green rectangles into leaves. Glue them on another sheet of construction paper and I guarantee you will have some bright, beautiful flowers that your kids will love. This art project also goes great with When Spring Comes or Splish, Splash, Spring or any book with beautiful spring flowers in it.
Outdoor Spring Activities for Kids
As you teach about the signs of spring, be sure to take your kids on a spring walk to look for these signs. Emphasize using their five senses as they observe spring. Find a great place to stop and record what they’ve discovered.
Having a spring journal to write in is also a great way for students to record observations, write down facts or a simple spring poem. When the weather is lovely, have your students bring their journals outside to write.
Spring can be a great time to go on field trips to neighboring parks or nature centers. If you are lucky enough to have a Botanical Gardens in your area, see what programs they offer for young children. In Denver they have several days set up with lots of hands-on activities specifically for kinders. This happens in late March and early April. Perfect when you are learning about spring.
Spring happens outside, so be sure to provide plenty of outdoor activities for your kids.
Great Spring Unit
If you don’t have time to design your own spring unit, might I suggest our NEW Spring Unit for Kindergarten.
This 3-day unit answers the following questions: What is spring? What’s the weather like in spring? How does this affect people? What happens to plants in spring? What do animals do in spring?
Below is a sample of our new spring unit. Along with this digital google slideshow, you’ll get lesson plans, differentiated writing templates, a student (easy reader) book, vocabulary cards and a nature journal. You’ll have fun teaching this unit! You can get it at our TpT store.
Let's Sing About Spring
Spring is a season to sing about. With that in mind, here are some really fun songs your kids can sing and dance to.
Spring Songs for Children – Spring is Here with Lyrics – Kids Songs by The Learning Station (3:30): This is a fun spring song with plenty of movements for your little ones.
Brain Breaks | Calendar Song | Springtime Dance | Jack Hartmann (2:56): Anything Jack Hartman is fun! This song, with dance movements like bunny hop, bird dance and sprinkler, is super cute and fun for the kids to do.
Happy Spring
More Seasonal Fun Activities for Kindergarten
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3 Responses
I will like to know if you have the lesson for the summer season.
Thanks
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for the question. We will be working on the summer season soon. We will have it done before summer starts.
-4 Kinder Teachers
Sandra,
We just uploaded our Summer Unit to Teachers pay Teachers. Click on the link below to be taken to this resource.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Science-Unit-Summer-Weather-Animals-in-Summer-Summer-Activities-8068800
Thanks again for reaching out!
-4 Kinder Teachers