10 spring activities that Montessori kids will love
Spring 2021 is huge! Life has been on hold for so long and as the sun continues to warm the earth, there is an exuberance and spirit that cannot help but burst forth – not just in the natural world around us but in people, too.
There are so many ways to explore and enjoy our homes and suburbs, social distancing or not – here are some of our favourites:
- Bird Feeders – make your own or buy one and fill it with seeds (whatever works for you!); and then wait for the birds. An extension of this activity is to draw the birds that visit your feeder, perhaps log how often they come to visit and try to identify what type of birds like your seeds.
- Cloud gazing – what better way to celebrate the season than by lying on a soft patch of grass and gazing into the blue beyond; look for animals in the clouds and imagine their lives and stories.
- Collecting – there are so many magical bits and pieces left lying around in the spring time; flower petals, seeds, stones, snail shells…anything and everything. An extension of this activity is to try your hand at flower pressing.
- Bug hotels or fairy feasts – collect sticks, stones and flowers and design homes for creatures to live, or lay out a feast of flowers and fruit for fairies, with little chairs and tables made from tree bark and stones.
- Nature Table – Montessori classrooms love a good nature table, which displays all of the interesting things they’ve collected throughout the season. This could be inside or outside.
- Gardening – little ones love to help out and what better way than to get them involved outside digging, weeding and planting?
- Fruit/veg picking – even if you’ve planted your own fruit/veg garden, there is something fun about visiting a farm and running amuck in vast fields of beautiful produce. An extension is to go on home and make a delicious dinner or dessert with the food you’ve gathered – get the kids to chose a favourite recipe (maybe you have some family favourites) and help you make/bake it.
- Flower Arranging – collect flowers from your garden or a wood nearby (or visit a market and choose some) and arrange them in a vase to display in your house. You could show your child how to trim stems and fill the vase with water with a jug and funnel.
- Scrubbing – spring cleaning; there is something deeply cathartic about this activity. Get the little ones to help – scrubbing wellies and toys, or garden furniture. All you need is a bucket of water and a scrubbing brush (and some soap if you like).
- Weather Journal – one way to enjoy the weather is to log it; by drawing or painting or writing down whether it us sunny, rainy, cloudy, warm or chilly each day. Hopefully there will be lots of sun!
Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash
