The weather is getting warmer and your students are likely getting antsy. Why not embrace this season and integrate some of these fun spring activities into your daily lesson plans? Plus download a free activity for your parents to use at home at the end of this post.
1. Taking spring activities outside
With the warmer weather, you can just take your materials and your students outside to teach a lesson. Yes, there will be some distractions. It may be challenging to keep your kiddos contained, but there is a lot to learn from just being outside.
Here are some ways to make teaching outside more successful:
- Set up the area with clear boundaries so students understand where they are supposed to stay. Use either physical items like chairs, carpet squares, or a blanket.
- Use visual cues like drawing chalk lines if you are on a solid surface.
- Bring any visual schedules or behavioral picture cues you normally use
- Don’t be afraid to use communication devices outside so all students can participate equally
- Plan plenty of stretch and exploration breaks
- Utilize a visual timer so students know how long before the next break
Make sure you look in the Free Resource Library (click the tab at top of the page if you need the password) for some FREE vocabulary cards you can download and use for a Spring lesson that would be perfect outside.
2. Go on a scavenger hunt
Spring is the perfect time to go on a scavenger hunt. There are so many changes happening in the world and clues that spring is here. I just wrote a blog post about going on a scavenger hunt, including a FREE scavenger hunt for spring you can download for spring.
3. Plant a class garden
Planting a garden is a great spring activity, and This is a perfect time. If you plant it now, by the time Earth Day comes around, you will have some things already coming up out of the ground. Working in the dirt and water is a great way to get those sensory needs met. Play in the dirt. Let the seeds run through your fingers. Have a large bucket of water students can plunge small cups into to water the newly planted seeds.
4. Incubate some chicken eggs
This was always one of my favorite spring activities. Even in the years when none of my eggs hatched, we still learned so much about the process of incubating an egg and keeping track of the time. Luckily, most years it was a success, and it was great!! I have a companion unit in my store that goes great with this classroom activity.
Be sure to check out my unit on Incubating Chicken Eggs. It has all you need to track the days and explain to your students the process in a simplified way that they can connect with. Or, you can download this unit for FREE in the Free Resource Library. If you need to password, click the banner above.
5. Go on a field trip
It seems like everyone is going on a field trip this time of year. Why should our kids be left out? Going on a field trip is a great way to incorporate spring activities into your lesson plans. And, because I know how stressful this can be for our students, I wrote a great blog post about making the most of a field trip (with some free downloads of course).
6. Make a collage
I love doing arts and crafts as a spring activity, even though they may get a little messy at times. Spring is a great time to make a collage. There are several ways to do this so ALL your students can be involved and work at their own level.
- Take items you find outside (maybe from your scavenger hunt) and glue them on a sturdy piece of cardboard.
- Take some magazines and find pictures of spring things to make a colorful picture.
- Using those same magazines, for students who are readers, have them make a collage of all the spring words they can find. They can even spell some words out by cutting out letters.
7. Write a story
There are so many things happening this time of year that students can write about. Writing prompts are one of my favorite tools to give students a chance to express what they like and don’t like on their own.
Here are some topics your students can write about:
- Butterflies
- A rainy day
- Going on a picnic
- Flying a kite
- Planting a garden
- Earth Day
- Baby animals
- I found an egg
- Gone fishing
- Being a good sport
You can find these spring writing prompts and MORE in my resource, Spring Writing Prompts. This is a collection of 15 writing prompts all with a spring theme. They come in color and black and white, and they are errorless. So students can write their own story, then read it aloud to the class.
If you don’t think your students can write a story, then be sure to visit my blog post on Writing Prompts for Non-readers.
8. Take a nature hike/walk
So this is a little different (in my mind) than a scavenger hunt. In one of my schools, we had these great trails behind the building that went through the woods and down to a creek. Taking a hike during each season was a great way for students to see how things in nature changed. We had one particular spot where a student would stand and we would take their picture. We could compare how the colors changed, how the height of the plants changed, how the ground covering changed, etc. with each season. It was such a fun activity!
9. From caterpillar to butterfly
Similar to incubating the chicken eggs, creating a habitat for caterpillars and watching them grow, make cocoons, and hatch into butterflies is a very popular spring activity. I have a unit that has some great supporting activities for this if you plan on doing it in your classroom this year. Check it out by Butterfly Life Cycle unit.
In the Free Resource Library, you will find some Butterfly Life Cycle cards that would be a great addition to any lesson plan you may already have for studying the lifecycle of a butterfly.
10. Get your parents involved in spring activities
I don’t know about you, but I always need a little extra help getting out of my winter rut at home. Your students’ parents are probably feeling the same way and would some spring activities to do with their kids at home. You can download this great family involvement activity below that gives your parents lots of great ways to get outside and enjoy this warmer weather. You can set this up as a contest, a homework assignment, or just a helpful handout to send home. I always did one of these at Christmas time and they worked really well. Click the button below the image to download this free activity.
Summary of all the FREE Spring Activities mentioned in this post (just click on the titles)
- Spring vocabulary cards (in the Free Resource Library)
- Spring Scavenger Hunt
- Incubate Chicken Eggs (in the Free Resource Library)
- Field Trip Checklist
- Writing Prompt
- Butterfly Life Cycle Vocabulary Cards (in the Free Resource Library)
- Family Activity (click the button above)
- More in the Free Resource Library
- Spring Sudoku Puzzle
- Easter spelling
- Find the matching Easter eggs
