7 Spring Learning Ideas for Kindergarten
Spring is one of the most exciting and busy times of year in the classroom. There's something about warmer weather and sunshine that brings a sense of newness and fun. Between school activities, assessments, and learning new skills, you don't have time to prep complicated activities. Save the prep and stress and try these fresh spring learning ideas for kindergarten instead!
#1: Build a Rainbow
The first of the spring learning ideas for kindergarten is a bright and colorful one that will offer meaningful skill practice during center rotations or partner practice.
To prep, you'll need a large sheet of 9 x 12 blue construction paper. Cut it in half lengthwise to make two 4 ½ x 12 pieces. This will represent your sky. Next, cut out 2 white clouds from white paper. Write the number 5 on one cloud and the number 10 on the other. Next, glue them to the top half of the blue sky pieces and laminate.
Then, choose 5 different colors of construction paper and cut them into 3 x 12 strips. You'll need 10 strips in all, 2 of each color. Separate the strips into 2 sets of 5 colors. Write number pairs for 5 on one set and number pairs for 10 on the other set. Laminate the strips for added durability.
For this activity, students will lay out both clouds and mix up the strips. They'll draw a strip, read the number pair, and place it under the correct cloud to show if it makes 5 or 10. They'll keep going, taking turns if they're working with a partner, until all of the strips have been sorted and the rainbow is complete.
You can differentiate this activity by making rainbow words instead. Simply write word families in the clouds and word family words on the rainbow strips. Students will match the words to the word family clouds to make the rainbow.
#2. Easter Egg Math and Literacy
Plastic Easter eggs are one of the most versatile supplies to use in the spring. You can practice sight words by writing a sight word on each side of the egg, mixing them up, and having the students match them up. Another idea is to practice word family fluency by writing different word families around one side of the egg and different beginning sounds around the other side. As students turn the egg, they'll practice decoding words.
Similar to the sight word activity, you can write teen numbers on one side of the egg and draw dots on the other side. Have students count the dots and match them to the correct number. Want to practice addition facts? Write an addend and a “+” sign on one side of the egg and another addend on the other side. Turn the egg and practice adding the different equations. You can find more Easter egg activities in my Easter egg literacy and Easter egg math blog posts.
#3: Weather Activities
Spring is the perfect time to incorporate seasonal weather activities into your spring learning ideas for kindergarten. These are simple and easy to do with your students but will have them oohing and ahhing!
Make it rain.
For this experiment, you'll need a clear plastic cup or a glass jar, shaving cream, and blue food coloring. To conduct the experiment, fill the cup or jar with water. Squirt shaving cream on top of the water to make a “cloud.” Explain to students that when the clouds get heavy with water, it rains! Next, put blue food coloring on top of the cloud and watch as it moves through the cloud, making “rain.”
Tornado in a jar.
For this DIY science activity, you'll need a jar with a lid, a teaspoon, vinegar, dish soap, and glitter. To conduct the experiment, fill the jar ¾ full with water. Put one teaspoon of vinegar and one teaspoon of dish soap in the water. Sprinkle in a small amount of glitter and close the lid tightly.
Swirl the jar in a circular motion and watch as a tornado forms in the center of the jar. Discuss with students where the vortex of the tornado is and that the glitter represents flying debris. Let each student take a turn swirling the jar to make a tornado. This is a great time to tie in weather safety into your discussion as well!
DIY weather graph.
This spring learning idea for kindergarten combines seasonal weather themes with graphing skills. Draw a basic graph on the whiteboard or chart paper with numbers to 1-10 listed vertically up the left side of the graph and different types of weather listed horizontally across the bottom.
Give students a sticky note and have them draw a picture of their favorite type of weather. Then, call students one at a time to come to the board, show the class their drawing and share their favorite type of weather, and add it to the graph. After the graph is complete, count the amount of votes in each weather category and have students write the numbers on whiteboards.
Next, determine which weather type got the least amount of votes, the greatest amount of votes, and subtract to find the difference. You can also practice addition and subtraction skills by asking questions about the graph, such as “How many total votes did rainy weather and sunny weather get in all?”
#4: Spring Morning Tubs
In the spring, your students are probably full of energy and craving excitement and fresh air. Start your mornings off on the right, productive, and less chaotic foot with spring-themed morning tub activities for kindergarten!
Your students will have a blast learning and warming up their brains for the day with these 21 hands-on math and literacy activities. Plus, they'll work on key fine motor skills too!
These activities are easy to prep, require basic classroom supplies, and are perfect for morning tubs, fast finishers, or even to add to your math or literacy centers.
There is even an editable spring sight word activity included to help your students master their sight word list!
#5: Juggling Jelly Beans
Another fun spring learning idea for kindergarten is to practice comparing numbers with jelly beans! To begin, fill 2-3 colors of plastic Easter eggs with various amounts of jelly beans (or mini-erasers). Students will play with a partner, taking turns drawing an egg and counting the objects inside. The person with the most jelly beans gets to dab a spot on the free jelly bean game board to show they won that round. Play continues until one student fills up their game board and is declared the winner.
#6: Spring Boom Cards
This spring learning idea for kindergarten is a digital kid-favorite. These digital Boom Cards are the perfect way for students to practice key spring skills in an interactive way. They are great to use during center time or as an independent activity while you have students at the teacher table or are working on assessments. With audio directions and immediate feedback, this digital activity is perfect for students to use independently.
This Spring Boom Card decks focuses on 8 different math and literacy skills that are essential for students to master in kindergarten. Skills include sight word sentences, CCVC words, beginning and ending digraphs, beginning R blends, subtraction with a number line, addition word problems, numbers to 100, and numbers 11-19.
#7: Sight Word Flowers
Sight words are the focus of this spring learning idea for kindergarten. To prep, cut out several large, colored circles from construction paper to use as flowers. Cut out several green rectangles to use as stems. Write different sight words on the stems in black marker. Write the same sight words on the flowers. Students will draw a flower and match it to the correct flower stem, completing their flower.
You could also do this activity with teen numbers by writing teen numbers on the flowers and drawing various numbers of dots on the stems for students to match.
I hope these spring learning ideas for kindergarten have you feeling fresh and motivated to tackle the spring months in your classroom. Comment below and let me know which activity you're trying first!
