I used to work in a daycare in which I had to come up with lesson plans for the week. Many times coming up with the theme for the lesson plan and the lesson plan itself was harder then teaching the kids the lesson. I would have to say that spring is my favorite season and favorite theme to base lesson plans on because there are so many wonderful spring related things to learn from and about.
When writing out lesson plans it’s important to keep in mind the age of the children you are working with, their likes or dislikes, and what area you need to focus on a little more then others.
Starting with a spring theme in mind think about how you can bring spring into math, reading, spelling, science, and what I like to call group time.
Math
Draw or print out flowers with the petals separate. With a magic marker number each petal and have the children glue the petals onto the flower in numerical order.
Or make a paper flower with large petals and allow the children to pull off each petal counting each one and telling how many petals they have at the end.
Spelling
Make or print out tracer pages with spring words and have the children trace or write the words. Words such as butterfly, flower, sun, bunny or rainbow.
Do flash cards with spring words such as A is for Ant or B is for Butterfly.
Science
Depending on how many children you are working with go on a nature walk or just outside and play I Spy using spring related items.
Discuss the clouds, animals, colors of the rainbow.
Plant seeds for the children to watch grow.
Discuss the life cycle of a butterfly.
Reading
A few really good books that discuss spring and make it fun are:
It’s Spring! by Linda Glaser
Mouse’s First Spring by Lauren Thompson
Spring is Here, Corduroy! By Don Freeman
Group time/ arts and crafts
I love visiting www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/crafts-other.html for craft ideas, they actually have a few printable crafts that are perfect for spring.
Grab a piece of construction paper and glue a popsicle stick in the middle of the page. Have each child copy their hand on each side of the stick. When finished it will look like a butterfly.
Sing spring time songs: a few are The Baby Bumble Bee, I’m a Little Flower pot, and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
One craft idea that we use to do in the daycare and the kids really enjoyed was cut out an object such as a flower or raindrop for spring time. Cut out small squares of construction paper and allow the kids to glue the pieces of construction paper onto the spring time object.
There are so many great things you can do with a spring time theme. I hope these have given you and your children a great start to your spring time lesson plan.
