The first day of spring is quickly approaching, and when it does come it may still be dark and chilly. In some areas, snow may still cover front yards and parks. How do you come up with fun activities for kids to keep them excited about the upcoming warm weather? Consider conducting a Spring Read-In.
For the whole day, your kids and their friends can read books about Spring. You can open up with a reading (Maybe The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle?)and the rest of the day, the children will read books. To make it feel more like Spring, you can have the living room set up as a book picnic. Store the books in baskets on the blankets. Each blanket could represent the type of books in the baskets. For example, the blue blanket could represent biographies; the red for adventure.
You can also separate chapter books and picture books. If it's warm enough (and the ground isn't sopping wet from melted snow) you can set up outside! Here are a few books that you can provide for the read-in:
The Flower Garden by Eve Bunting
Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
For older children 8 and up:
The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Narnia series by C.S Lewis
Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Of course, keep in mind the age group of your children or other children that are participating. The older books that are listed don't necessarily focus on spring, but they contain themes of change and hope. Those are books you can provide for the Spring Read-In. Allow a break after 40 minutes to an hour of reading. During the break you could provide snacks or have them participate in a low energy activity before their next session of reading. You could even show a short movie rendition of one of the books that is available to read, and discuss the differences between the book and the movie. At the end of the day, have the children share one of the books they read as well as what they liked most about it.
Don't forget to participate as well! It's important for them to see you and other adults reading. Contact us for more kids activities!