Preschool Lesson Plan for Spring: A Hands-On Method of Teaching About Spring
Reading About Spring
To start this preschool lesson plan for spring, make a list of your five senses on the board: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Then read the book “It’s Spring!” by Linda Glaser, and encourage students to listen to how the author of the book uses each of her senses to know that it’s spring. For example, the author discusses feeling a pussy willow against her cheek, seeing a sunset, and hearing the sounds that birds make. Challenge children to think of other ways that they use their senses in the spring.
Splashing in the Puddles
Set small mats, such as those used for naptime or activities, around the room to make a disjointed path. Then have each child stand on one mat and jump up and down, singing the following song (to the tune of “We’re Following the Leader”):
We’re splashing in the puddles,
The puddles, the puddles,
We’re splashing in the puddles,
One, two, THREE!
When they reach the last line, children should jump forward three mats. You may want to instruct children to remove their shoes before starting this activity. If you’d like, you can tie this activity into the book that you’ve read by discussing how it might feel to splash in real puddles.
Cupcake Garden
Hand out Popsicle sticks and green paint, and encourage children to paint several Popsicle sticks entirely green. If you’d like, you can then provide them with sequins to sprinkle on the sticks before they dry. Then give out pastel cupcake liners in various colors, as well as glue and small craft objects, such as beads, sequins, or small buttons. Encourage children to glue the craft materials of their choice to the inside of the liners. Then let the sticks and liners dry overnight before moving on to the next step.
Give each child a piece of white paper and show them how to glue on a popsicle stick as the stem of a flower, and a liner as its head. Encourage them to create several flowers using this method. When the flowers dry, show them how to draw other spring objects, such as grass, the sun, a blue sky, and trees around the flowers to create a beautiful spring garden. If you’d like, pass around a spray bottle filled with water and a few drops of perfume, and let them use it sparingly to give their creations a special scent. (You can also put the scented water on cotton balls for them to rub on their flowers, if desired.)
See this article for some more spring craft projects for preschoolers.
Make a Spring Shower
Talk to students about what rain sounds like, and discuss the fact that rain sounds different, depending on how hard it is falling. Explain to students that even in one storm, the rain might start off very light and then end up coming down much, much harder…before tapering off again. Show students how they can make different sounds with their own fingers, mouths, hands, and feet to represent the various levels of rain. Play a modified game of “Follow the Leader” by having them follow you through the following steps of a spring rain shower:
- Snapping their fingers (if they can)
- Making clicking sounds with their tongues
- Clapping their hands softly
- Clapping their hands loudly
- Banging on their desks with their hands
- Stamping their feet on the floor
Have them go through the steps from 1 to 6, and then back from 5 down to 1 again. Then congratulate them for making their own rain shower!
You can add other activities to this preschool lesson plan for spring, such as some of these egg crafts.
This post is part of the series: All About Spring for Preschool
Celebrate the season of Spring in your preschool classroom with themes, crafts, activities, bulletin board ideas and more!
