The disappearance of the dark cold mornings often signifies that we are slowly approaching the end of the first half term of any given year. This is when our thoughts immediately turn to new topics such as the start of the spring season. It is also a time to reflect on how we will engage with our newborns and preschoolers as we try to chart new beginnings.
You have a range of activities to choose from when trying to make learning fun and interactive. Spring also happens to be the ideal time to see, as well as understand, all the diverse changes that occur in nature. It also makes it possible for children to be acquainted with joys and wonders associated with each new season.
For a dad, spring is the best time of the year for you to explore nature with the young ones. The activities and ideas discussed below are influenced by the animals, seeds, and springtime lifecycles that are visible during this season.
Best Spring Activity Ideas for Newborns and Pre-Schoolers
Habitats and Mini-beasts
Taking a nature walk is a good way for you to introduce your little one to their surrounding environments. It can also help inspire interest and love for the natural world. Your kids will be eager to see what is living and growing around them.
So why not look for a downloadable mini-beast spotter from the web and a pair of magnifiers to try and spot what is living around you with your kids?
Outdoor Mark-Making
Taking mark-making activities outdoors is another great way for your child to have some fun whereas getting messy. Many child experts believe mark-making to be a very important step in the development of a child.
For many children, it is the first stage towards learning how to write. Mark-making presents the child with an opportunity to experiment with making patterns as well as scribbling. By taking this activity outdoors, you are presenting them with a great selection of materials to experiment with.
You can attempt to create spring pictures with leaves, paints, twigs, textured rollers, and brushes. As a parent of a toddler, you could also get a kids bouncy castle and place it next to their outdoor mark-making spot. This way, the child will be able to alternate between mark-making and spending time in the bouncing castle.
Butterfly Garden
The butterfly garden is an interesting concept that helps you teach children how to take care of living creatures better as they continue to grow older. By creating a butterfly garden, your child will get to see a caterpillar start eating food and becoming bigger.
The caterpillar will develop into a chrysalis within no time before metamorphosing into a beautiful butterfly ready to be released out into the world. Buying a butterfly kit is a great way to delight your children. Your kids will get to see each and every stage of its transformation and also get to learn new and exciting skills.
Planting and Growing
As mentioned earlier, spring activities come in varying forms. A watch me grow planter, for instance, is a special resource that will make it easier for you to investigate and explore the growth occurring above and below the soil level. The planter comes with clear windows that make it easier for kids to observe mini-beast guests as well as plant root systems.
For parents who would like to try and do the same thing but on a much smaller scale, they can always opt to use the Show and Grow Tubes. The tube enables each child to grow his or her seeds and continue to watch them as they develop above and below the soil.
New Life and Lifecycles
If you are looking forward to introducing your child to lifecycles, then there is no better way to do this than to read and intensively study The Hungry Caterpillar Story. The story is considered ideal as it helps illustrate the beautiful adaptations and changes undergone by each caterpillar before it eventually becomes a butterfly.
You can use sculpted, and hand-painted figures to improve your child’s engagement with this particular story. The figures will help you demonstrate in detail the true and actual life cycle of a butterfly.
Conclusion
Spring is not only a time to bond with your child, but it is also the best time to try and foster their creativity. Creativity in a child is important and should never be underestimated. The springtime activities discussed above will not only make it easier for you to bond with your child, but they will also help you enhance their creativity. All these will help with the development of future literal skills.
