Teach Mom Learn

Spring is such a magical time when you have young children.  Everything is new, the whole world is coming alive, and your little ones are taking in every beautiful thing with so much enthusiasm, its impossible not to see the season in a whole new light.

The weather is beautiful, and you can get outside almost every day.  It’s the perfect time of year for nature walks, hikes, and playing games in the backyard. 

You can make so many fun spring activities educational without leaving your own neighborhood, and often even in your own backyard.  Everything is an opportunity for learning, and your little sponge will soak these lessons up!

Here are 10 fun and easy educational spring activities for you and your preschooler to enjoy:

1. Nature scavenger hunt

The next time you take a walk around your neighborhood, make it educational.  You can do this informally with a round if I Spy.  Simply point out the beautiful things you see and help them to scan their environment to locate them.

If you’d like to do this in a formal way, check out this free printable scavenger hunt card! Or if you’re feeling creative, make your own!

Try putting the paper in a sheet protector and bringing a dry erase marker and clipboard with you. That way, your little one can check off items as they find them and reuse the activity whenever they’d like.

2. Read spring-themed books

Get your child excited for spring by changing up story time.  Read them spring-themed books and talk about how the pictures on the pages relate to the beautiful things you saw earlier in the day.

 Some of our favorites are Spring in the Forest and Little Yellow Bee.  Because Rae is still very young, I talk about the different animals and plants on each page. Each time we find a bird on the page, she caws! She also caws when she sees dogs, apparently they have a lot in common with crows in her world!

As your child gets older, you can ask them to identify plants and animals that they recognize.  They can discuss the weather on the page.  They can make predictions or character observations.  Anything you can do to get them talking about the book and noticing details in the illustrations is fantastic for them!

3. Spring writing activities

Young children are so incredibly creative, and their responses to open-ended questions are hilarious.  As a fun way to harness this creativity, check out these spring writing activities.  Your child will be encouraged to brainstorm, write an acrostic poem, personify spring, and use their senses to build descriptive language skills.

These activities are designed for children at a variety of ages. Provide more support for younger children and allow older children to work independently. You can use them again each year and see how your child’s creativity and writing skills have grown!

4.  Flower craft

Crafts are a great way to work on receptive language by encouraging your child following directions.  There are thousands of flower crafts to choose from on Pinterest, each one more adorable than the last. Your child will enjoy any craft you choose! 

For the craft below, use thick paper and child-safe watercolor pens. Draw some stems and grass ahead of time, then let them draw in the flowers. 

• 

• 

• 

No matter how old your child is, it is helpful to demonstrate the craft you choose so they can understand the steps.  By giving them a model, they can follow along step-by-step. 

If your child is older or you’d like to challenge them, give them only a model of the finished product and let them try to break down the steps on their own.  You’ll be surprised by what they come up with!

5. Spring counting

Use the beauty around you as an excuse to build in some foundational math skills.

Your child can count how many different types of flowers or trees they see in your yard, how many birds or squirrels they see during a short period of time, or even how many painted rocks or sidewalk chalk designs they see on a walk down the street.

If your child is a little older, they can work on more vs. less.  Ask if there are there more petals on a rose or a dandelion, or whether they saw more squirrels or birds outside. 

Anything you can do to incorporate foundational math skills is great for your child!

6. Spring matching game

Matching games are a fun way to help young children develop their short-term memory strategies and learn to recognize patterns.  This free printable matching game includes 20 cards, each with a spring image featured on it. Be sure to print 2 copies so your child can match the items in the printable.

Once you print the activity and cut out cards, I’d recommend mounting the images on construction paper. This way, your child can’t see the images through the white paper.

To play, flip the cards over so that the pictures are hidden.  Then, have your child flip the cards over two at a time.  Matches can be heavily praised and set off to the side, and non-matches can be flipped back over.

For younger children, cut flowers and other spring shapes out of colored construction paper.  Then, hand your child a basket full of plastic Easter eggs that match the colors of the flowers.  Encourage them to place the purple egg on the purple flower, the blue egg on the blue flower, etc. 

Both matching games should take your child’s ability and attention span into account.  Younger or less patient children should have a smaller field of options.  You could start with a field of 6 cards (3 matches) and build as your child’s working memory increases.

Older or more patient children should be challenged. Start with a field of 20 cards (10 matches) and build from there!

7. Spring Weather Chart

Spring weather is some of the least predictable, especially in New England.  It will be gorgeous and sunny one day and then raw, rainy, and windy the next. 

Learning about the weather helps young children make observations about the world around them.  They can look outside and form conclusions based on what they see.  These are great foundational science skills!

Use this free printable weather chart with your child to document the weather each morning.   You can laminate it using packing tape or a sheet protector and having a variety of colorful dry erase markers around.

Older children can complete the chart with more independence. For younger children, it works best if you write the day of the week for them and let them circle the temperature and weather. 

8. Flower hop

This is a great activity for gross motor skills, following directions, and, depending on your child’s age, emerging reading or math skills.

Draw flowers all over your driveway with sidewalk chalk.  Make them large enough for your child’s feet and close enough so that your child can hop from flower to flower.

• 

• 

There are 3 possible ways to play this game.  The first is to leave the flowers blank and work on color recognition and gross motor skills.  Encourage your child to travel from flower to flower using a different movement (“Hop to the orange flower!” “Run to the yellow flower!” “Dance to the pink flower!”).

For very young children, give your direction and demonstrate at the same time. That way, your child can see what they’re supposed to do and be praised lavishly for following directions! As they become more familiar with the game, fade (or decrease) your level of support and let them become more independent.

Another option is to put letters on each flower.  Then, instruct your child to travel from flower to flower using the movement and letter of your choice.  For younger children, simply name the letter. For older children, use the letter’s sound (“Hop to the letter that says ‘fffff’” “Jump to the flower that says mmmm”).

To build foundational math skills, write numbers on the flowers.  For younger children, call out the movement and number of your choice. 

For older children, have them do an action the indicated number of times, counting aloud if needed (“Run to the pink flower.  What number does it say?” Let your child answer (in this case, let’s pretend the flower says 3), then instruct them, “Great! Now hop 3 times!”).

By the end of this game, your child will be proud and tired!

9. Sidewalk chalk mosaic

For this activity, all you need is sidewalk chalk and masking tape.  Tape off a large shape of your choice in your driveway, then divide that shape into smaller sections.

Give your child sidewalk chalk and encourage them to color in the shapes.  For younger children, work on identifying what each shape is and talk about other items that share the same shape. 

Give older children direct instructions about which shape to color next.  You can dictate the color if you’d like to work with them on selecting the correct chalk from a field of options, or you can let them choose to build autonomy.

By the end of the activity, your driveway will look beautiful and your child will have had a fun lesson in shapes while simultaneously developing their fine motor skills!

Keeping it Simple Crafts has some fantastic ideas for chalk art mosaics and words! Her mosaics look like gorgeous stained glass windows, yet the shapes are simple enough for kids to fill in easily!

10. Eat some dirt!

Have you ever had dirt? It’s actually a pretty delicious snack perfect for spring and Halloween.

Spring dirt doesn’t have much of a recipe. Just mix Cool Whip and chocolate pudding to get the balance you like best, sprinkle some crushed Oreos on top, and decorate with gummy worms. However, there are lots of ways to make this educational.

One option for older children is to find a written recipe online (like this dirt recipe from Shari Blogs), print it out, and work with your child to read and follow the steps together.

For younger children, focus on counting. Introduce them to ratios by having them put in 1 scoop of Cool Whip for every 2 scoops of pudding. Have them measure 1/4 cup of crushed Oreos for each cup of dirt or count out 6 gummy worms to place on top.

You can also focus on colors. Talk about the contrast between the white Cool Whip and brown pudding and watch the way the colors blend together. Have your child identify the different colors in each worm or make sure there’s one of each color in every dirt cup.

The possibilities are endless, but the result is always delicious! Have fun with it and encourage your child to do the same!

For more spring fun, check out these easy Easter activities your toddler will love!

How do you like to celebrate spring with your toddler? Please share in the comments below!