5 Activities to Add to Your Lesson Plans this Spring
The February mid-term has come and gone and Easter is just around the corner so it’s time to start planning your spring-themed lesson plans! Spring is the perfect time to teach your students about animals, plants and gardening while also marking some of the occasions that occur during this time. In this blog we take a look at five activities that you can add to your lesson plan this spring.
1. Pair baby animals with their parents – Junior classes
Spring is a time of new life within the animal community, particularly on farms. This activity is a great card matching game to celebrate new life and provide knowledge about the range of animals found on farms.
What you need:
- Large cards
- Markers
The activity:
- Brainstorm with your class the names we give to baby animals and the adult version of this animal, placing these on the board e.g. lamb/sheep, foal/horse.
- Divide your class into small groups giving the same number of blank index cards to each group.
- Have each group choose matching adult and baby names from the list, getting them to draw the baby animals on one set of cards and the adult version on the other with their names printed underneath.
- The children can then mix up the cards and lay them face down. They then take turns trying to find a match between the adult and baby, keeping the cards when they make a match. The winner is the player with the most pairs at the end.
- The difficulty can be increased or decreased by adding more or taking away some cards.
Links to additional resources:
Book suggestions:
- “Owl babies” by Martin Waddell
- “Where’s my mum?” by Julia Donaldson
- “On the farm” by Axel Scheffler
2. Plant seedlings – All classes
Spring is a great time for gardening. This activity combines the act of gardening with recycling allowing you to teach about nature and the environment in a broader sense. It’s also a great activity to teach your students about the conditions required for plants to grow, offering a scientific element to the activity.
What you need:
- Seeds e.g. cress, beans or flowers
- Soil
- Egg cartons
Activity:
- Remove the top from an egg carton and fill each section in the egg carton with soil.
- Plant the seeds in each section placing the egg carton in a location with plenty of light and water the seeds regularly.
- Use a chart to track the weekly growth. If you’ve used two different varieties of seeds then you can compare the growth of each type of plant.
- Once your plants outgrow their egg carton move them to a larger container or outdoors. If your egg cartons are compostable, they can be cut up and planted straight into pots or flower beds.
Links to resources:
Book suggestions:
- “We’re going on a Bear Hunt – Let’s discover Plants and Seeds”
- “Only a tree knows how to be a tree” by Mary Murphy
- “Oh say can you seed?” by Bonnie Worth – Youtube read aloud
3. Track the changes seen across the season – All classes
There are many signs of spring including longer days, green leaves, new flowers appearing and the arrival of many new animals. This activity works on your students observational skills focusing on recording the signs of spring over a period of a week. At the end of this time your students can then report back their observations to the class allowing them to work on their presentation and public speaking skills.
What you need:
- Notebooks/ copybook
- Pencils
- Crayons/colouring pencils/markers
Activity:
- Explain to your students the changes we see when spring arrives making a list of the general areas changes are seen such as weather and animals.
- Ask your students to brainstorm the changes using the list of areas compiled.
- Give each group of students one specific area to focus on asking them to look out for the changes seen in this area over the week e.g. clothing – people start to wear brighter colours, people no longer wear coats.
- At the end of the week each group can compare their findings and prepare a summary using drawings.
- This activity can be made even more fun by allowing students to choose the method they present in such as a tv report, a radio report or a newspaper article.
Linkage/ Comhthathú:
- Gaeilge: An Aimsir/ Ainmithe/ Éadaí
- Drama: Exploring and making Drama
- Geography: Weather Observations
4. St Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt
St Patrick’s Day is a big event in any lesson planning diary with a whole host of activities that you could try. One that you might not have heard of before is a St Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt where your classroom can try to find their very own pots of gold! This is a hugely fun activity that’s great for getting your class outdoors and having fun.
What you’ll need:
- St Patrick’s Day display cards – laminated
- (Or these display cards from SchoolBooksIreland)
- A Scavenger Hunt checklist
- Pens
- An open space e.g. school yard
Activity:
- Print out a selection of St Patrick’s Day themed images such as shamrocks, leprechauns, pots of gold and rainbows with one of each image for each child. Laminate as precaution if it is raining.
- Create a scavenger hunt checklist with one for each student.
- Hide the images across the school grounds.
- The children can then find one of each item and mark it off their checklist.
- For an extra challenge: Ask the children to report back to base and complete a set of exercises before looking for the next card
OR ask the children to return to base and say ‘I found the pot of gold’ or ‘Fuair mé an bogha báistí’.
5. April Fools Day writing activity
“Spring” may mean Easter, warmer weather and new life but it does also mean April Fools Day! Create a fun writing activity based around the silly jokes that children would like to play on April Fools Day. This activity is great for the imagination and works on writing and public speaking skills. Just make sure that none of your students try their prank on you!
What you need:
- Writing material i.e. copybook
- Pencils
- Crayons/colouring pencils/markers
Activity:
- Ask your class to brainstorm some funny pranks they’ve heard of before or that they would like to do.
- After this discussion each child will have time to write and draw their own April Fools themed story focused on the joke they would like to play.
- After each child has written and drawn their joke they can share with the class their stories to practice their public speaking skills.
Links to resources:
We hope our selection of spring themed activities has given you some inspiration for your lesson plans this spring.