Spring Has Sprung: Activities for the Greenest of Seasons

My St. Patrick's Day activity list was so popular I figured I would begin one for Spring (including some Easter) as well.  Here you will find my favorite spring themed, play based activities from around the web.

Art/Fine Motor:

• Ribbon Painting: Easter Eggs: House of Baby Piranha
• Tye Dyed Coffee Filter Easter Eggs: The Chocolate Muffin Tree
• Flower Painting: Family Education & Flower Prints: Kat's World (similar ideas)
• Crack Open the Egg and Paint in Preschool: Teach Preschool
• Butterfly Sensory Bags for Preschoolers: Teach Preschool
• Wellie Boot Printing: The Imagination Tree
• Glue and Bead Sun Catchers: The Chocolate Muffin Tree
• Butterfly Costume Wings: alphamom
• DIY make your own colorful Easter grass!: Teach Preschool
• Easter Eggs-Not Just for Hunting: Creative Connections for Kids
• Balloon Painting Bunnies: Strong Start
• Frog Eggs: Using small bubble wrap, spread white paint over the bubbles, then press blue construction paper on top.  This creates many tiny circles.  Add a black dot to the desired amount of circles, creating the appearance of frog eggs.  
• "Worm" Painting: Cut desired length of yarn or rubber bands in half.  Dip the yarn or rubber band in paint, then drag it over your sheet of paper.  
• Egg Shell Sculptures: Messy Kids
• Ladybug spots: using corks as stampers, dip into black paint, then stamp onto red paper.  Then read The Grouchy Ladybug.
• Ladybug and Easter Egg Sun Catchers: 
• Version 1: You'll need contact paper, red tissue paper, black construction paper, and a hole punch.  Cut a length of contact paper which you can fold in half.  On one side (on the plastic), trace a medium to large sized circle with a permanet marker.  Use a bowl or large yogurt container for the template.  Remove backing.  Your child should be able to see the black circle on the plastic.  Have them place bits of red tissue paper in the circled area.  Then have your child use the hole punch with the black construction paper, making ladybug spots.  Place the spots within the circle on the tissue paper.  When decorating is done, fold the sticky sides together closing up the contact paper.  Be very gentle so not to create bubbles or creases.  Then, you or your child can cut the circle out.  punch a hole and hang in a window.
• For Easter Eggs: Draw an egg shape on the contact paper.  Use spring colored tissue paper instead of red.  No black spots.      
• Version 2: You'll need wax paper, cheese grater, peeled red crayons, black construction paper, hole punch, iron, and a towel.  Cut a large length of was paper, one you can fold in 1/2.  After folding, open wax paper like a book.  Have your child grate red crayons with a cheese grater (but monitor closely because they are sharp!) onto the open wax paper.  The more crayon the better but allow them to choose when they stop.  After the crayon is grated, give them the black paper and hole punch so they can punch the ladybugs spots.  place the spots on the grated crayon.  Fold over the wax paper.  Place a thin towel over the paper, then place the iron on the towel and iron over it, melting the crayon and wax paper together.  When everything has cooled, cut out circles of desired shape from the crayon and spotted area.  Punch a hole and hang.  
• For Easter Eggs:  Instead of red crayon, grate spring colors (green, pink, yellow, purple, etc) onto the wax paper. No black spots.  Melt together, then cut egg shapes out of the wax paper and hang.    
• Marbled Easter Eggs: Tot School
• Rolled Easter Egg Painting: Tinker Lab
• Shake, Rattle, And Roll Egg Decorating: StrongStart
• Wool Birds Nests: Mermaids Creations
• Raindrops: The Life and Times of Angelyn
• Giant Earth for Earth Day: Little Running Teacher

Sensory/Discovery

• Easter/Spring Sensory Tub: My Delicious Ambiguity 
• Spring Garden Sensory Tub: No Time For Flash Cards
• Play Dough Planting: little learners lounge
• Dirt Play Dough Recipe: Heidi's Recipes 
• Birdseed Sensory Exploration: Fill your tub with birdseed, shovels, sifters, funnels, cups, and/or spring items like plastic eggs or fuzzy chics.
• Bug Slime Spaghetti: The Imagination Tree
• Discovery Box 9: Plastic Eggs: The Imagination Tree
• Garden Sensory Bin: Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
• Pond Life Sensory Table: PreKinders

Science

• Bouncy Eggs: Science@home
• Catch a Rainbow: Kidzone (a.k.a Rainbow Milk)
• Easter Crystals: Housing a Forest
• Grass Caterpillar for Spring: Kiboomu!
• Create a Bird Feeder: Spread peanut butter or sunbutter on a medium to large pine cone.  Roll in birdseed and hang outside near a window.  Watch as the birds gather to eat.
• Read Bug Safari, then go on a bug hunt in your backyard.  

Cooking:

• Raw Snacks for Kids: "Fairy Cakes": What a Healthy Family Eats
• No Bake Bird Nests for Spring!: Kiboomu!
• Butterfly Bites: Kiboomu!
• A Poor Man's Jam for English Muffins: Super Healthy Kids  (Strawberries for spring!  Spread it on waffles, pancakes, toast, etc!)

Learning Games

• Ladybug Dice Game: Learning and Teaching With Preschoolers
• Easter Egg Learning: My Delicious Ambiguity 
• Egg Nest Sorting Game: Teach Preschool 
• Easter Egg Memory: Little Family Fun
• Flannel Easter Eggs: Walnut Acres

Outdoor Play & Exploration

• Making a Play Garden: Part 1: The Imagination Tree
• 17 Tips for Making Your Backyard Wildlife Friendly on a Budget: Audubonmagazine.org
• Fun Friday: Make Mud Prints: Go Explore Nature
• don't throw away your plastic pot plants: let the children play
• Let's Get Dirty: Fun Mud Activities: National Wildlife
• Let's Help the Birds Build Their Nests!: Squashed Tomatoes  
• Make Bubbles: Acorn Pies

Music and Movement

• 5 Green and Speckled Frogs
• Rainbow Dancing: Using crepe paper in rainbow colors, cut a long strip from each chosen color.  Place lengths together and staple one end.  Put on your child's favorite music and let them dance around with the streamers.  Or send them outside to run around with their streamers.
• Baby Bumblebee    
• Bumblebee (Buzz, Buzz) by Laurie Berkner (Video) Sing and fly around like a bumblebee.
• Boots by Laurie Berkner (Video)
• Little Bunny Foo Foo

Literacy (Books in my collection that I feel capture the essence of spring!)

Mouse's First Spring

When Will It Be Spring? Hb (Alfie Bear S.)

Over in the Valley (Volume 2)

The Tiny Seed (World of Eric Carle)

Planting a Rainbow: Lap-Sized Board Book

Counting In The Garden

The Butterfly Counting Book

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Bug Safari

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Reading Railroad)

Five Little Bunnies Hopping on a Hill Book and Audio CD Set (Paperback)

Here Comes T. Rex Cottontail

Easter Mice!

The Little Blue Easter Egg

The Great Easter Egg Hunt Book and Audio CD Set (A Look Again Book) (Paperback)
Five Green and Speckled Frogs (Sing and Read Storybook)

HAPPY EASTER

A Place to Bloom