The Spell household is more than ready for spring to arrive! We can’t wait until we can spend a huge amount of time outdoors. We miss the sun. It has been a very dreary winter. So on the docket for this week is spring preschool planning! I’m going to be gathering the supplies and getting them ready in bins for use later this year. Some of the activities we are going to cover will be repeats from last year because they are just so much fun. Here is some of what I have planned:
Preschool Butterfly Unit:
Releasing our butterflies
Last year we watched the life cycle of a butterfly. All my kids found it fascinating to watch the caterpillars turn into butterflies! We will be doing this activity again– probably in May so that it will be warm enough for the butterflies to survive once released. Many of the activities and resources we will be using can be found in my Butterfly Unit for Young Children post.
Butterfly Books:
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert
10 Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr. – This is my 2yr. old’s favorite book! She has worn it out!
Are You a Butterfly? (Backyard Books) by Judy Allen
Preschool Flowers Unit:
My girls love to pick flowers!
Spring is the perfect time to talk about and observe flowers! We will be planning and planting our garden, going on nature walks, and doing a couple of flower observation activities.
Flower Books:
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller
Preschool Ladybug Unit:
This will be a first for us– raising Ladybugs! Since the ant farm was such a big hit last year, I thought my girls would like to see how ladybugs change. We’ll be getting the InsectLore Ladybug Land in order to see these tiny creatures first hand.
Ladybug books
Are You a Ladybug? (Backyard Books)
Bugs are Insects by Anne Rockwell
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs by Bob Barner
I’m sure we’ll end up doing more, but for now I’m going to plan in detail these three themes. If you are looking for more preschool science ideas, be sure you check out my 10 Days of Preschool Science series. We did some cool things with ants and worms last year, plus other science activities.
Do you have any special spring themes or topics you’ll be doing? Let me know in the comments.
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post. Thank you in advance for supporting this site.
This looks like so much fun! LOVE IT!!!
Hello. I am involved with an Early Learning Program for ages 0-5. We have monthly themes and 13 different “centers” set up each day we do our program. One of our centers is – Science. One of our themes is “Family”. Are there any science experiments or activities that you know of or could help me find that would relate to family?? I have searched everywhere (i.e – google, pinterest) for countless hours looking for something that would fit into that theme for science but I’m just not having any luck! If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Tracey
Tracey,
In a family unit you could talk about the stages of life— infant, child, adolescent, adult, elderly adult. You could have a paper plate divided with those labels and a stack of pictures featuring people in those stages. Have the children sort the pictures into the correct spot. Or you could have a mini-book and have them glue the pictures in the correct spot — or a timeline–like adding machine paper.
You can also talk about mother/baby names of animals– not quite literal family but could work: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml
That’s what I thought when I read your reply. I’ll think about it more and see what I can come up with!
~Maureen