*From
Eileen Cordova, Madera, Calif:
Popcorn
Blossoms: We use
popped corn from an air popper for "spring blossom" projects (pussy willow, apple
blossoms, etc). I put down an old king size bed sheet, set the popper in
the middle, put the corn in, and turn it on. The children love to watch
it pop. Just make sure you have
enough adults to see that the children do not get close to the popper.
It works well with older children as they understand that the corn may be hot
or very warm when falling to the floor/ground.
*From
Stormie:
Spring Versus
Fall Collage (a "following directions"
activity): Provide
lots of magazine pictures of both spring and fall trees and spring and fall leaves. Give
each child a piece of paper divided into two sections. Draw a simple bare
tree at the top of one section and label it "Fall." Draw a simple
full-topped tree at the top of the other section and label it "Spring."
Children then choose from the magazine pictures and glue them into the appropriate
sections.
Favorite Books:
From Bonnie T. in Colorado Springs,
Colorado:
Are You Spring? Written by
Caroline Pitcher and Illustrated by Cliff Wright:
This story is short enough to keep children's attention. A little bear cub
named Una didn't want to hibernate like her mother and brother. She wanted
to explore, but her mom said she had to wait until Spring comes. Since she
had never been outside her cave, she didn't know WH0 Spring was. So she
scampers outside her den and meets up with all kinds of animals asking them if
they are Spring. As you go along in the story, the snow melts and the green
grass peeks through and Mom and brother also come out to play. It is so
cute. I really liked it because before the story, it tells you how to make
the story fun for the children, then at the end, it suggests activities you can
do.
Making a Multi-Cultural Connection:
To provide a frame
of reference, show children where countries are located on your classroom globe
or map, and if possible, provide related pictures and books:
Japan
(on the continent of Asia)
From
Tara, in Japan: In Spring, we
celebrate Cherry Blossom Season. All over Japan, Cherry Blossom trees bloom
and everyone enjoys picnics under the trees. It is something you have to
see to enjoy.
From
Stormie: Follow-Up activity
after discussing this springtime event in Japan: Have children make their own
cherry blossoms using tissue paper. Go on a picnic under a tree that's in
bloom (even if it's not cherry blossoms).
From
Stormie:
Here's
a great book suggestion:
"Did You Hear
Wind Sing Your Name?: An Oneida Song of Spring, by Sandra De Coteau Orie; Christopher
Canyon, Illustrator: The children will love this Oneida Indian song
of Spring, but more than likely, you yourself will fall in love with it too. As
a nature lover, I personally found the illustrations and words (in the form of
questions) very powerful.
As a follow-up activity, tell the children you
want them to look for "Spring things" when they go outside to play today
and then remind them to tell you what they saw.
Growing
Things:
From
Stormie:
Although
I'm posting ideas on this page as often as I can, I have reserved my very favorite
spring activities (inlcuding growing things, birds, rain/clouds/rainbows)
for my "SPRING"
booklet (see the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section
of my website).
*Real Garden: Plant a garden outdoors near your classroom that children can tend (in the ground or in a container). Watch for various stages of growth: seeds, stems, leaves, flowers.
*Digging: If you're unable to have a real garden, children can still practice "hole digging" in dirt or even in the sandbox.
*Jack
and the Beanstalk Day/Project: Read the fairy tale then act it out.
During outdoor play, children can pretend they are climbing the beanstalk by climbing
up the slide ladder, dome climber, or a rope ladder if available. Eat beans
for snack. Then, as a follow-up to the story, let children help plant 5
beans. Allow the beans to grow as tall as possible over the next few weeks
adding small stakes when necessary to keep them climbing. Let the children
"tear" white paper clouds to attach to the top of the beanstalk. When the
"stalks" have grown substantially, display the beanstalk, storybook, class pictures,
and a decorative "write-up" of the entire little project in a place where parents
can enjoy it. If you do this near the end of the school year, it would be
great to display during your "Saying Good-bye" Open House.
Extension:
Children can create other things from the story on a strip of butcher paper using
collage materials (castle, ogre and his wife, gold pieces, bowl of milk, the cow,
hen, harp, etc). Hang it above the display.
Variation:
Let each child plant their own "bean in a cup" to take home and watch grow.
*From
Gail Maher, Port Sanilac, Michigan:
Creative
Drama Activity: Sand Table Garden: I put small
gardening gloves, small garden tools, plastic flower pots, artificial flowers,
a small watering can, and spray water bottles of water in the sand table (just
a small one with a very fine spray mist). (Sand was in the table too.)
What a blast!! The kids had so much fun planting, watering and digging in
their "flower garden." It was really a hit -- definitely the busiest spot
in the classroom!
Stormie's Extension: You could
also concentrate on various stages of growth by placing seeds, plastic stems,
plastic stems with leaves, and plastic stems with leaves and flowers in the sand
table. Later, line the pots up in sequential order of growth stages and
discuss them -- language activity.
*From
Mandee Pogue, in West Virginia:
Creative
Drama: Flower Shop: Stormie, I thought I'd share a cute idea I did in my classroom
Play Kitchen this spring. I cleared out all the toy dishes and foods and
turned it into a "Flower Shop." I went to my local dollar store with $20.00
and bought slik flowers, plastic vases, celephane wrap, etc. I put out our
toy cash register and got out the play money and the kids LOVED it!!!! I
thought I would share this with you and the others.....Happy Spring!
*From
Angie:
Growing Plants and Children:
In conjunction with discussing/comparing various stages of plant growth, I send
a note home for parents to send a baby picture of their child to school so we
can talk about how children grow too. I also brought pictures of myself
at ages 1 yr and 3 yrs. The children got a good laugh looking at my pictures
as they couldn't imagine me as a baby.
*From
Lynn, in Maryland:
Planting Yams:
During the early spring I sprouted a yam (a.k.a. sweet potato but I called it
a yam because we were also studying the letter "Y"). I poked toothpicks
into the sides of the yam and then suspended it in the opening of a clear jar
filled with water. The children could watch the yam grow roots and leaves.
Then we planted it in a 5-gal bucket that had been lined with a garbage
bag and filled with potting soil. Yam watering became a daily "helper"
job, and when the plant died at the end of summer we opened up the bag to see
the new yams that grew all summer long.
*From
Gemma, United Kingdom:
Height Plants:
I thought I would share an idea with others for creative development and knowledge
of the world around us: Research different types of plants with the children and
then ask them what type off plant they like, and then allow them to make that
plant using plant pots, sticks, crape paper leafs, scissors, glue, sellotape,
and other collage materials, plus soil (to make sure the "plant" is
secure). Make the plant including the pot the same height as each child
then ask the children to line them up in order from the smallest plant to the
largest.
Extension: Ask the children to describe the plant they have
made and why they chose that particular one.
Birds:
From
Stormie:
*Spring
Picture: After discussing "Spring" or taking a spring walk, provide collage
and drawing materials. Instruct the children to make their own "spring"
pictures.
Variation: Bird Picture: (Creativity Within
the Limits of a Theme): Give each child a "bird" cutout (or other spring
thing) to glue on paper. Also provide drawing and collage materials.
Instruct the children to finish their bird picture any way they wish. Observe
and encourage as they draw and collage. You might ask, "Where do birds live?"
Have them tell you about their completed pictures, then print their exact words
on their papers.
*Kathi,
from Maryland, shares this idea:
Egg
in the Nest: "Each child will make a 'nest' out of things they find in nature.
I will bring in a lot of real nests made by various birds, so they can see differences
in the nests. I'll also bring in some horse hair (optional) and dog hair
for them to add to their nests. Then at random each child will be surprised
with a 'jelly bean egg' in their nest. This gets very exciting for the children.
At the end of the week they get clean jelly beans in a baggy to take home to eat.
(They know they can't eat the ones in their nests. 
)"
*From
Emily Brown, pre-k teacher in Hoopeston, Illinois:
Find the Birds: Here's a great activity for younger
children or those needing practice with colors: First, I gather pipe cleaners
in all different colors and scarves to match. I then cut and bend the pipe
cleaners into small bird shapes, then hide the "birds" outdoors. I collect
several cardboard boxes for the children to decorate into "bird nests."
(We may add straw and other realistic items in the nests.) I then take the
children outdoors and give each of them a different colored scarf. I read
them the story "Are You My Mother?" by Dr. Suess
and tell them to hunt for birds and bring them back to the nest, but to only pick
up the ones that match their scarves. It's a great color review and fun
springtime activity!
Favorite Books:
From
Stormie:
My Spring Robin, by
Anne Rockwell; illustrated by Harlow Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell: A
little girl finds all the signs of spring but she's looking for something in particular.
*Renee
Davis, from North Carolina shares a couple cute incidents that happened at
her preschool recently:
The
two-year-old teacher was talking about birds and how the mommy bird gets the worm
and chews it and feeds it to the baby birds. A little boy spoke up saying
"My mommy feeds me snakes but I spit them out." 
A teacher
noted that a child's shoes looked so nice and new one day. The little boy
responded "Yea, I like them too, my mommy puts them in the dishwasher." *I
love the Music session ideas sent to me from Kelli Stockford in Oregon.
Here's another:
"April Showers
Bring May Flowers": Print familiar song titles on construction paper raindrops
and flowers. Place them in an opened umbrella that's turned upside down.
A child chooses a raindrop or flower from the umbrella, you read it, then the
group sings that song.
*From
Stormie:
Tearing Rainbows:
Using markers, draw colored arched rainbows on children's individual papers (or
on a large mural sized piece of paper for a group project). Have children
tear pieces of construction and tissue paper, then glue the pieces to the matching
marker color on their papers (or on the mural). To extend the project, they
can add cotton clouds, draw birds, sun, etc.
Variation
from Mindy, Sandusky, Ohio:
Stormie, I like to have the children sort
colored cereals and then glue them onto the same color rainbow arch.
Snack:
We later eat the Keebler brand of Rainbow Vanilla Wafers for snack. :-)
Rainy Day Drawings (Creativity Within the Limits of a Theme): Anytime you're doing a theme about rain, fog, or places near water, allow children to create pictures on pieces of tracing paper. Tracing paper gives the feel of mist in the air. For example, I've used tracing paper when trying to capture the feel of being high in the mountains. During a "rainy day" theme, after discussing rain, rainbows, etc., give the children an umbrella cutout to glue on their papers, then say something like, "What else would you see in a rainy day picture?" You will be amazed at their creativity as they draw their own versions of storm clouds, lightning, person under the umbrella, etc.
Teaching Tip: Rainy Day Box: If you're like me, you sometimes dread rainy days because you know you can't take the children outside. Although I haven't always been able to do this, I like having a special box full of toys and games that are brought out only on rainy days. I even keep an index card in it that has special Circle Time ideas on it. If you do things from this box only on rain or snow days, the children begin to look forward to such days as they know they get to open the special "Rainy Day Box."
Creative Drama Poem: Have children pretend they are clouds:
Floating Clouds
(Tune:
Are You Sleeping or Frere Jacques)
Clouds are
floating, clouds are floating
In the sky, in the sky
Floating up above
me, floating up above me
Way up high, way up high
What Are Windshield
Wipers?
Thought Question: When you are in the car with Mommy/Daddy, and
it begins to rain, how does Mommy/Daddy see to drive through the rain? (Language
activity: Discussion on windshield wipers)
Mini-Field Trip:
Take a walk to the parking lot and allow children to look at windshield wipers.
Walking On Clouds: Our local TV meteorologist Amy Sweezey gave out this idea one morning during her broadcast: If you'd like to allow children to "walk on clouds," take a walk during morning fog as fog is the same as clouds.
*From
Stacie D'Anna:
Language Extension: When
doing the activity that Stormie mentions above (Tearing Rainbows) and before the
children glue on their ripped paper pieces, I make a HUGE mural-sized rainbow
and print the color name in each of the arches of the rainbow, using markers of
the same colors.
Favorite Books:
From Stormie:
Emily
and the Snails, by Domitille de Pressense:This
is such a cute story about Emily and Stephen who decide to bring a basket of snails
inside the house after a rainstorm so they won't get squashed.
*In
the Rain With Baby Duck, by Amy Hest; illustrated by Jill Barton: I
love the pictures in this book -- a story about a baby duck who hates the
rain -- until he gets something special.
*Let's
Count the Raindrops, by Fumi Kosaka: This is a darling little book
of weather poems.
*From
Karen D in Houston, Texas: My
little one loves "rainbows" and these two related books:
Liz
Makes a Rainbow, by Joanna Cole; Illustrated by Bruce Degen:
This book is based on The Magic School Bus books. Keesha and Carlos want
to paint a rainbow on a garden wall. They need all 7 colors of the rainbow,
but only have 4 of them. What do they do? Liz, the class pet, helps
them solve their problem. This book is helpful when mixing colors.
The second book is A Rainbow of My Own, Written
and illustrated by Don Freeman: A
boy imagines how it would be to play with his own rainbow. In the end, he
gets one! My little girl likes to "read" this book over and over again.
She also likes to talk about "her own" rainbow that we made: All you need is the
book, ribbon in the appropriate rainbow colors, a coffee can lid, and scissors.
Cut the inside of the lid out and tie the ribbons, one at a time, onto the lid.
Leave a space where the child can hold on to it. Swirl it around, dance
with it, whatever you like. A rainbow of your very own! (This
activity is just one of many that can be found in Wild
Animal Baby Magazine.)
-----------------------------
Reminder
from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom
ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you
can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here
to check them out.
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