Is it spring yet? I mean I know it is technically spring but I was in Chicago last week in the snow?! Even if you are still walking through snow to get to your classroom you can make sure you are learning all about spring with these fun hands-on spring garden activities. If you want even more make sure you check out our Spring Garden thematic unit, it’s colorful, flexible, and will do the planning for you so you can relax and do what preschool teachers do best; make learning fun for your students!
Flower Sticky Wall – great sensory experience!
Vegetable Garden Sensory Bin – this was a huge hit with my class and it is so easy to make!
Spring Garden Roll & Cover game. This is simple, roll the dice, count and place the erasers, and keep going until you reach the flower pot. Download this game board here.
Giant Sunflower Craft – you could even make these the same height as your students ( just skip the stem part and use green ribbon the as the stem).
Cutting Nature – fine motor and nature all in one! I love garden activities like this!
Gardening For Letters – you can do this in a sensory bin but it is much more fun in a garden!
Sense of Smell Circle Time – exploring flowers and graphing all at once!
Nature Smash Painting – get colorful and messy naturally!
Fine Motor Flower Tray – a classroom free choice favorite!
Hands-On Reading Tray – The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Fine Motor Flowers Math Tray – Free printable too!
Up in the grass or down in the dirt? This simple sorting game helps children to sort through what living things are above ground or down in the dirt below the grass and flowers.
FREE for a Limited Time
If you want more garden activities including printable free choice activities, circle time lessons, book list, and even a printable finger play check out our Spring Garden Thematic Unit! in our Spring bundle which you can get for free using the code 100
Sisters with a System says
These ideas are fantastic! We have some medical issues and other busyness going on for May, but I plan to incorporate a lot of these activities into our nature study this summer. This will be the perfect way to engage my 3 yr old while the older kids and I are sketching and studying nature. Thanks!
(I loved this post so much, I shared it on our fb page for our readers to enjoy. Thank you!)
zanuda says
Add “mud kitchen” to your list of garden activities. Easily done – with couple of old tables, old play kitchen, old pans and tin plates and plastic containers you don’t need any more. If you don’t want real soil, you could use compost. And of course sand and water. It will work for all range of activities like “cake decorating”, “making a dough”, “tea parties” – those kids will do on their own. And you could use it for other educational activities: http://www.mums-dads.co.uk/education/mud-is-good-mud-kitchen-even-better/
EmilyAZ says
Thank you for the art ideas 🙂 I agree with ^Zanuda for more mud play, dirty hands from playing in soil, touching worms, using kid-safe garden tools, and using more natural materials. Less sterile play environments and more time with kids in NATURE!