Seasonal Science: Spring Activities

By Hollie Barattolo

Spring is perfect for spending time outdoors and learning more about how plants and animals grow. Whether you live somewhere with lots of green or somewhere where the cars outnumber the trees, getting outside as the weather gets warmer provides great opportunities for little learners.

 

Spring Science Activities for Preschoolers:

 

Nature Viewers

Buggin' Out

The Dirt on Dirt

 

Books About Spring for Preschoolers:

 

Nonfiction:

Planting Seeds by Erika L. Shores

Rain Showers by Kathryn Clay

Animals in Spring by Kathryn Clay

Up in the Garden Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak

Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi

We Dig Worms by Kevin McClosky

Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals

A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Nest is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston

Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards

The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller

Planting a Rainbow  by Lois Ehlert

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall

Fiction:

Spring is Here by Will Hillenbrand

Crinkle, Crackle, CRACK It’s Spring by Marion Dane Bauer

Fantastic Flowers by Susan Stockdale

Hank’s Big Day: The Story of Bug by Evan Kuhlman 

Cricket in the Thicket by Carol Murray

Errol’s Garden by Gillian Hibbs

Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn

Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson

Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano

Pitter and Patter by Martha Sullivan

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring by Kin Eagle

 

Spring Resources:

 

National Geographic: Oh Baby! Which Animal Families Lay Eggs and Live Birth?

 

Raising Butterflies

 

SciShow Kids: The Science of Spring

 

Composting Resources:

Backyard Composting:  stopwaste.org/

Indoor Composting:  epa.gov

 

Spring Science Webinar Recording: 

 

 

Spring Science Presentation

 

Download the Spring Science webinar presentation here.

 

Standards & Alignments

The activities and resources outlined here align with many early learning standards.

 

ECERS-3

 

  1. Children have a natural desire to explore, to build, and to question. Through open-ended exploration, children interact with materials in nature and scientific materials/tools to explore and learn about their world.

 

PA Early Learning Standards

 

  1. Children have an innate desire to experiment and investigate while gathering data to make conclusions.

  2. Children’s immediate environment and daily surroundings provide the best context for science learning. Some ways they do this include observing, measuring, investigating, sorting, and comparing. 

  3. Adults scaffold children’s thinking by asking open-ended questions that encourage problem-solving and critical thinking.

 

Head Start

 

  1. Children first construct scientific knowledge by using their five senses to interact with the environment.  That is how they make sense of their world.

  2. Young children’s incli­nation to be curious, explore, experiment, ask questions, and develop their own theories about the world makes science an important domain for enhancing learning.

  3. Problem-solving skills, children’s reasoning, and their representation of their learning becomes more complex as they gain new abilities to ask questions, gather information, and think critically.   

 

CLASS

 

  1. Adults facilitate activities to promote students’ higher-order thinking skills, such as problem-solving, predicting, comparing, and classifying.

 

ALL

 

  1. Adults facilitate children’s development of those skills that support discovery and inquiry while promoting their natural curiosity.

 

Share Your Spring Activity Photos with us!

We'd love to see how these actvities worked out for you and your students. Tag us on Facebook or Instagram!

 

Hollie Barattolo Head ShotHollie is certified K-8 teacher who has been educating in the informal education field since 2005. She has developed and implemented countless exciting STEAM programs for families, classrooms, and teachers focused on the natural world, the scientific process, and ancient life. Her professional passions are inquiry, whole family learning, experiential learning starting in early childhood, and the intersection of literacy and science instruction.

She has recently developed a community-based program that encourages families to use dramatic play to learn science, increase literacy skills, and have fun together for which she received the Drexel University Presidential Award for Civic Engagement. She is most proud of her work on a popular science storytelling program for preschool families and classrooms that combines a book club format with engaging programs, innovative curriculum, and a hysterical puppet storyteller.