Yes, it seems as if spring may actually be here to stay this time! We've had a few warm days here and there, but the cold weather always came back. Now, however, it seems we've made it through to spring. And what does spring mean to preschoolers? Mud, and bugs, and puddles, and dandelion bouquets mostly! I haven't seen a pair of clean shoes in this house for two weeks!
Finally the kids get to go outdoors again and there is so much for them to discover. Flowers are beginning to poke up through the earth and bugs are crawling all over the sidewalk. Yellow dandelion flowers make perfect presents for mom and the mud is great to dig in with the sticks that have fallen out of the tree.
Spring is a great opportunity to point out interesting things about nature to our kids and plant seeds of science in their minds. Take the new flowers. How did they get there? Show your child a bulb or seed and explain how it lived underground all winter and is now growing again thanks to the warm sun. We planted an acorn in a small pot to see if we could get it to grow like our daffodil bulbs.
After planting our acorn, my daughter and our two neighbor girls also planted a pine cone, a stick, and some stones. We water them faithfully and wait to see what happens. It is a perfect lesson on what is a living thing and what is not. Best of all, it was initiated by the kids themselves!
Birds will be coming back soon, providing an opportunity to discuss where they've been and why they came back. Put some food out for them. Other animals will begin to appear as well; the bunnies and squirrels and chipmunks that live among us. Where have they been all winter?
Spring is a great time to show kids that our food doesn't just spontaneously generate on the store shelves, but comes from the earth first. Even if you just plant one single tomato plant, you also plant the idea of our reliance on the Earth for food.
Every season has special qualities that provide rich opportunities for us to share knowledge with our children. Take advantage of the curiosity of this age to discover some of the lessons springtime offers.
A great book to read with your kids concerning the Earth and how we need to care for it is The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore),by Stan and Jan Berenstain, published by Random House, 1991.
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