Preschool Spring Activities and Themes
Is your preschool class ready for Spring? I’m definitely ready for an end to Winter weather! Spring is a season of new. Are you ready for some new learning themes?
Check out these crafts, activities, and lesson plans perfect for Spring. Teach your preschoolers all about bugs, butterflies, and flowers or celebrate the upcoming holidays with these preschool Spring activities and themes.
Each of my preschool Spring thematic units include process art, sensory activities, fine motor skill building, and early math and literacy activities. Plus, you won’t want to miss all my fun suggestions for books, songs, and finger plays to use with your preschoolers this Spring!
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Preschool Bug Theme
Looking for a preschool Spring theme your kids will get excited about? Try a thematic unit all about bugs. Most kids are fascinated by bugs, even if they aren’t exactly excited to touch them. Want to make your classroom a place filled with curiosity and excitement? Try these preschool Spring activities all about bugs.
I’ve got all kinds of fun Spring activities all about bugs that are perfect for helping your preschoolers practice important early learning skills and grasp early math and literacy concepts. My preschool math and reading centers are perfect for preschool classrooms or homeschool lessons this Spring.
With this preschool Spring theme all about bugs, you’ll get daily activities for literacy, handwriting, math, read alouds, and hands-on bug activities. Here are just a few of our favorite activities in this thematic unit all about bugs:
- Wiggly Worm Measuring
- Ants in Your Pants Rhymes
- Butterfly Observation Journal
- Play Dough Bugs
- Letter Swat Activity
- Buggy Shapes
- Pom Pom Caterpillar Painting
- Bug Number Mats
Each of these fun preschool Spring activities matches up with a fantastic book all about bugs that you can read aloud to your kids at the beginning of the school day. It’s a great way to get your preschoolers engaged and excited about the lessons for the day. Want to save the book for later? These read aloud stories are perfect for helping your preschoolers make connections and build reading comprehension skills at the end of the lessons too. Here are the books you’ll find in this preschool Spring theme about bugs:
- The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- Bugs from A to Z by Caroline Lawton
- A Bees Life by Donna Herweck Rice
- Ants by Cheryl Coughlan
If you’re looking for even more book suggestions, check out this list of amazing Spring books for kids.
Speaking of fun bug activities for preschool kids. Have you tried insect painting with your preschoolers? This is a simple setup that is jam packed with a whole lot of fun.
Just give your kiddos some Dollar Tree bugs, paper, and paint and set them free to create their masterpiece!
Plus, when they’re done your preschoolers will have fun cleaning the insects in a water sensory bin.
My little one always enjoys DIY sensory bins like this.
Ladybug Craft
You can’t have a bug theme without this cute ladybug craft for kids. Learn to count the ladybugs spots while practicing 10 frames and 20 frames this Spring.
For added fine motor practice, color the ladybug coloring page and improve handwriting with alphabet practice.
Butterfly Life Cycle Preschool
Butterflies are such a fun preschool Spring theme to study with your kids this year! Learning all about butterflies is an excellent opportunity to teach your preschoolers about the life cycle and introduce them to the concept of metamorphosis.
A butterfly life cycle is the perfect way to teach your preschoolers about the stages of a butterflies life this Spring. Plus, you can use this preschool butterfly life cycle to learn all kinds of important information like the stages of life, what butterflies eat, and how quickly they grow.
My printable butterfly life cycle bundle includes:
- Observation Journal
- Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheets
- Handwriting Practice
- Pattern Practice
- Scissor Skill Building Activities
One thing that I highly suggest doing with your preschoolers is getting yourself a set of class caterpillars to observe for a few weeks. This pairs perfectly with my butterfly life cycle journal and makes learning all about butterflies highly engaging.
Your preschoolers will love getting up close and personal with caterpillars and observing them as they develop through each of their stages.
Every year I purchase this butterfly habitat, which comes with several live caterpillars and food. This resource is extremely sturdy and comes with everything you need to get your students up close and personal with nature.
Want more ideas to turn this butterfly life cycle activity bundle into a complete preschool theme? Try adding some of our favorite butterfly read alouds:
- Waiting for Wings Lois Elhert
- A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston
- My, Oh My – A Butterfly by Tish Rabe
- Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura F. Marsh
- Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons
Adding movement activities to this preschool Spring theme is a great way to encourage physical activity and get those wiggles out before completing your butterfly life cycle observation journals. Try having your preschoolers move around the room like they imagine a butterfly would.
Play Butterfly Waltz by Brian Crain as they practice moving like butterflies. In addition to being a fun way to get up and move, you’ll get all the benefits of exposing your early learners to classical music too.
Chicken Life Cycle Activity and Craft
Nothing says Spring more than baby animals. This Spring, teach all about the life cycle of a chicken with this easy cut and paste craft and activity.
This chicken life cycle craft comes with several different templates so you can differentiate your instruction as well as a boy and girl chick craft.
Earth Day Activities
I love celebrating Earth Day with preschoolers! This Earth Day theme is perfect for teaching your kids all about natural resources, conservation, and recycling.
I’ve put together lots of fun Earth Day crafts and activities to help you teach your preschoolers all about Earth Day while learning important academic concepts too. Here are some fun Earth Day crafts to try with your preschoolers this Spring:
Reading aloud to preschoolers is a wonderful way to encourage your early learners to fall in love with books while building vocabulary skills and teaching important new concepts too. Try these Earth Day read alouds to help your preschoolers begin to understand why it’s important to celebrate and protect the Earth:
Looking for more fun hands on Earth Day activities for a preschool Spring theme that’s filled with engaging learning activities your preschoolers won’t forget? You can plant trees with your preschoolers to learn more about how important it is to conserve our natural resources this Earth Day.
Then, use recycled materials for a fun process art project. Process art projects are perfect for learning in the preschool classroom because they focus on the process, not the finished product. It’s a great opportunity for kids to get creative and explore using different recycled materials for their own imaginative unique creations.
Try these ideas with your preschool Spring theme this year:
- Painting with recycled egg cartons
- Creating mosaics with plastic caps and lids
- Loose parts sculptures
Earth Day Coloring Pages
Color by number worksheets are always a hit with kids. So why not use them as you talk about ways to save our planet this Spring?
These 4 Earth Day coloring pages will help reinforce letters, numbers, and colors with your students. Grab them today!
Earth Day Playdough Mats
Playdough mats are perfect for little hands to improve fine motor skills.
These adorable Earth Day themed mats will allow your little ones to manipulate playdough and practice handwriting skills by tracing each word.
Earth Day Math Activities
I have a few more hands on activities to use this April when celebrating Earth Day with preschoolers.
This first Earth Day printable is perfect as a gross motor activity or tossed in a sensory bin. Simply count the bottles in the recycling bin and color in the correct number on the worksheet.
You’ll want to grab this second Earth Day resource to continue improving your students counting skills this Spring.
Your students will love identifying and tracing the numbers they see and placing the correct amount of objects on the counting mat.
Easter Preschool Activities
Are you ready for Easter? It’s one of my favorite holidays! These Easter preschool activities are perfect for celebrating in your classroom this Spring. I have put together a collection of Easter crafts, printables, and academic skill building activities.
First, get your preschoolers excited about this Spring thematic unit with these fun read alouds:
- The Great Eggscape by Jory John and Pete Oswald
- How to Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace
- We’re Going on an Egg Hunt by Laura Hughes
- The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
- Happy Easter, Mouse by Laura Numeroff
Then, let the learning continue with these fun preschool Spring activities for Easter:
- Easter Directed Drawing
- Scrambled Eggs Easter Activity
- Printable Easter Worksheets for Reading and Math
- Easter Play Dough Mats
- Easter Tracing Printables
Looking for more movement activities to use with your preschool Spring theme for Easter? Try these Easter finger plays:
- Little Bunny Foo Foo Fingerplay
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail Fingerplay
Finger plays help kids build language skills using songs and rhymes. Plus, they’re an excellent way to help kids build fine motor skills for handwriting by using their hands to make small movements. Plus, using finger plays to teach your preschoolers all about Easter is a whole lot of hands-on fun for the classroom or play at home.
Are your little ones into science experiments? These Easter science activities for kids are sure to be a hit.
Discover what happens when you add warm water to Jelly Beans with this fun intro to science. Your preschoolers will also enjoy the Peeps science experiment, and you’ll love how engaging it is!
I could go on and on about preschool Easter activities and have an entire blog post dedicated to fun Easter activities for kids you should check out! While you’re there, be sure to take a look at these 50 Easter crafts too!
Plant Activities for Preschool
I love this preschool Spring theme all about plants and growing things. This plant thematic unit is filled with preschool activities that are perfect for the classroom or doing things at home.
Preschool plant activities are perfect for Spring and it’s super easy because you probably already have most of the things you’ll need around your house or in the backyard. Ready to explore these plant activities for preschool? Grab the freebie and check out these fun preschool Spring activities all about plants:
- Subitizing Sprouts
- Build a Plant Craft
- Compound Word Tulips
- Plant Needs Emergent Reader
- Flower Pot Letter Match
- Pom Pom Plant Painting
- Growing Number Mats
- Flower Name Craft
- Life Cycle of a Plant
Plus, there are 5 fun read alouds in this preschool Spring theme about plants that will get your preschoolers excited about learning this Spring. Here’s what’s included:
- The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
- Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn
- From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
- Magic School Bus: Plants Seeds by Patricia Relf
- My Garden by Kevin Henkes
Want more fun plant activities to do with your preschoolers in this Spring thematic unit study? Try teaching them some fun rhymes and songs all about plants and gardens this Spring. Here are a few to get you started:
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
- Vegetable Song
- Five Little Flowers
Many of these songs have hand motions and choreography to get your preschoolers up and moving this Spring. Teaching your preschoolers the motions to go with these adorable songs is a fun way to help kids develop motor skills too.
St. Patrick’s Day Theme
St. Patrick’s Day is a magical holiday that’s perfect for celebrating in the classroom or at home with your early learners. This preschool Spring theme is filled with exciting activities your kids will love so much they won’t even know it’s “school work.”
Get ready to build fine motor skills with rainbows, learn literacy with leprechauns, and practice counting out your gold with a magical St. Patrick’s day preschool Spring theme.
I’ve got tons of fun hands-on activities, printables, worksheets, science experiments, and crafts for you to share with your preschoolers this St. Patrick’s Day. Check out my favorites here:
- St. Patrick’s Day Pot of Gold and Rainbow craft
- St. Patrick’s Day Roll and Cover Printable
- Leprechaun Templates and Writing Prompts
- St. Patrick’s Day Alphabet Sensory Bottle
- Jello Sensory Bin for St. Patrick’s Day
- Rainbow Fizzing Pots Science Experiment
- Pot of Gold Counting
- St. Patrick’s Day Letter Hunt
- Sink or Float Experiment for St. Patrick’s Day
- Walking Rainbow Experiment
- Sticky Rainbow Wall Craft
- Build a Leprechaun Beard Counting Activity
- Shamrock Tear Process Art
This build a beard activity is one of my preschoolers favorite ways to practice number recognition and counting. You can also hand your little ones a pair of tongs for some added fine motor practice.
Have you started any cool science experiments with your little learners this year? If not, I have several that are sure to knock their socks off in my St Patricks Day activities post. Your preschoolers will love becoming scientists as they create a walking rainbow, erupt their pots of gold, crystalize rainbows with Borax, and mix colors with ice cubes.
Want some fun St. Patrick’s Day read alouds to make this preschool Spring theme complete? Here are some of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day books to read with preschoolers:
- How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace
- Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase by James Dean
- Jamie O’ Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie de Paola
Pond Activities for Kids
There is so much to learn in a fun pond theme for kids. Check out my pond activities bundle for 15 hands on printables, perfect for Spring.
Pond Life Cycle Ideas
Spring is also a great time to teach about animal life cycles. This frog life cycle comes with an adorable craft that makes this life cycle lesson even more fun!
More Pond Crafts and Activities
Create a dragonfly in pond cattails with this adorable pond craft for kids. This fun cut and paste craft also comes with a dragonfly coloring page with an option for added tracing practice.
Or work on number recognition and counting with this fun gross motor activity for kids. Hang these free frog printables around a room and set your kids off to count record what they find.
Or toss the frogs on a log cards in a sensory bin for even more Spring fun.
Free preschool spring activities
If you’re needing amazing and free spring activities for kids, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve compiled my favorite free preschool spring activities from amazing educators and am so excited to share them with you. A huge shoutout to Alexa at the Perfectly Purple Classroom for organizing these amazing resources two years in a row.
Be sure to grab the 2022 Spring printables as well as the 2021 Spring resources for free today!
In conclusion
Are you excited about teaching your preschoolers new concepts and ideas this Spring? I hope these preschool Spring activities and thematic units have given you lots of great ideas to use with your preschoolers at home and in the classroom this Spring. What’s your favorite preschool Spring theme or activity? Share your favorites in the comments. I can’t’ wait to read them!
Thank you for the freebies!!!!!
You’re welcome!