First Signs of Spring

Ages 3 and up (one 1 hour session)

Objectives:

To celebrate the changing of the seasons
To help children recognize seasonal change
To develop motor skills

Materials:

Forced bulbs
Art supplies: scissors, glue, colored construction paper and white poster board
Egg cartons
Soil thermometer
A large nail and hammer or a battery powered drill with a drill bit the diameter of a pencil

Set up:

Locate some forced bulbs. ( Around Easter, they can usually be bought in the grocery stores.)

Ask the children to bring in egg cartons for the upcoming project. (You may want to send a note home to the parents.)

Separate the egg sections ahead of time.

If you don’t have daffodils or tulips or crocuses growing right outside, take some pictures of some sprouting and bring in the pictures the day of the activity to show the children. Let them know where they’re growing (like at your home)!

Part One:

If the bulbs are growing right outside, go for a walk with the children to see them. Bring the soil thermometer and check the temperature of the ground. Talk about the soil warming, and the sun getting higher in the sky. Point out the buds swelling in the trees. Talk about everything waking up. If you have a maple tree you could tap that tree and talk about how the sap runs this time of the year. Put a hole in the tree with the hammer and nail, about 3 feet from the soil line, above a large root. Remove the nail. The hole will produce sap if the weather is above 40 degrees, and close back up over night. Talk about how the sap moves up from the roots on warm days and goes back down at night when the temperature gets below 30 degrees again. (a trip to a sap house this time of year compliments this activity).

If you don’t have the bulbs right outside to look at, pull out those pictures and then go outside and test the soil temperature and proceed as above.

Ask children if they have noticed any flowers blooming yet and if so, ask them to describe what they looked like and see if they know any names of early spring flowers. Show them the forced bulbs you brought in. Let them pick them and smell them and enjoy them. Pull up a bulb or two and pass it around for everyone to see. Talk about how the bulb is a food storage unit. Liken it to other food storage units (like your refrigerator).

Part Two:

Make a daffodil!

First paint an eggcup yellow and set it aside to dry. Next, use a piece of yellow paper to cut out the 5 petals of the daffodil. Cut out a thick green stem and leaves. Glue the stem and leaves to the poster board. Glue the petals to the top of the stem. When the eggcup is dry, glue it to the center of the petals. Many other spring flowers are also fun to make, just let the children use their imaginations.

Part Three:

As the children are finishing their creations invite them to talk about their designs and share ideas. It might be fun to use all of the flowers to make a springtime garden for the classroom.

Questions to ask:

What is a season?
What makes each one special?
What is their favorite season and why?
What do we mean by “signs” of spring?
Can they think of any other signs of spring besides flowers and sap running?
What bird is the favorite harbinger of spring? Let them know he has a red breast!