Spring! We can finally be outside! Moms everywhere are almost weeping for joy!
Make the most of the season with these eight fun spring activities for toddlers and littles. These low-key ideas will keep you and your kids happy!
Vegetable Stamp Painting
Having kids stamp with vegetables is such a unique twist on a normal craft time. Use a paper plate or cover a plate with foil, pour some paint in the middle, and give your kids a variety of cut-up veggies to use as a stamp. Our favorites are broccoli and celery!
Sidewalk Chalk Games
When my kids seem to be losing steam with coloring on their own with sidewalk chalk, we mix it up and play some games. For toddlers, it’s fun to draw different big shapes on the driveway or sidewalk and then call out one of the shapes and have them run to it. For older kids, my girls love drawing kid-size houses with different rooms that they play house in or drawing some grocery store aisles to pretend to shop in.
Spring Themed Sensory Bin
Listen, I love it when my kid plays with a sensory bin at preschool, but I’m not a big fan of DIYing them at home. If this sounds overwhelming to you, here’s a fun spring-themed sensory bin that doesn’t sound too crazy to put together: In a large bin, add dried black beans, fake flowers, a shovel, and different sizes of flower pots or other plastic containers. Your kids can pretend to plant flowers and dig in the “dirt”!
Create Your Own Spring Scavenger Hunt
Using pictures or words depending on your kids’ ages, create your own spring-themed scavenger hunt to complete in the comfort of your backyard or on a walk around the neighborhood. I love the idea of creating your own so you can personalize it for the items you think you’d likely see. If you want some ready-made scavenger hunts, though, there are plenty of great ones online, like this one from Imagination Soup.
Come up with a Spring Bucket List with Your Kids
Sit down with your kids and find out what fun spring activities they want to do! Is there a new park you could visit? A craft they’d like to make? A weekend you could plan for a picnic? I love the idea of giving my kids’ some ownership of the plans we make!
Start a Garden
Involve your kids in your garden plans. Let them help pick out what you plant and help plant it, too! You could also consider planting a kid-friendly sensory garden this year.
Make a Bean Sprout House
If a whole garden is too much, opt for making a bean sprout house instead! Your kids will love watching it grow. Last year, my daughter felt so much ownership of “her bean” once we transferred it to our garden. Here’s a great tutorial and printable “sprout house” to get you started.
“Car Wash” and Farm Animal Wash
For some reason, this is one of my kids’ absolute favorite spring activities (and I love how simple it is!). I set up a beach towel on our patio and give each kid a plastic food container filled with soap and water. Then we pretend to give their Matchbox cars a car wash or wash their Little People animals. I also give them different-sized containers to pour their soapy water into. It’s mess-free (they’re playing with soapy water after all!), and keeps them occupied.
