Spring is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited! The sun is shining, the back doors are wide open, and the birds are singing. I love studying nature with my children year-round. There is so much to experience and learn in every season, but springtime is extra magical because you’re just coming off the grey months of winter.

I want to share some of our favorite books and activities for our homeschool in the spring as a launching point for you to be intentional with making room for fun, connection, and beauty this season.

Related: Benefits of Year-Round Homeschooling

In this blog post:

• Favorite ideas for incorporating spring into your homeschool
• Nature resources from Treehouse Schoolhouse

Favorite ideas for incorporating spring into your homeschool

These are my favorite ways to feature and learn from the spring season in our homeschool.

Adding stories about spring to your homeschool

Grab a big basket (or two) from the thrift store and fill them to the brim with the sweetest spring stories. In the spring I love grabbing a quilt and our book basket and heading outside under a shady tree to read. It makes it even more fun if you bring fresh lemonade for the kids to sip while they listen. To fill our baskets, I refer to the book list each week in Treehouse Nature Study: Spring and gather books related to the spring nature theme we are studying. Each week focuses on one nature theme such as insects, rainbows, and snakes and includes a book list of fiction, non-fiction, and reference selections about the theme. Along with those books, I have discovered many wonderful books that I have purchased and pull out in the spring. I have gathered 20 of my favorite picture books for the spring months for you.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Sweet Spring Picture Book List

Go pond dipping and raise tadpoles

Go on a hunt for tadpoles in a slow-moving or stagnant body of water like a pond or creek. Use a dipping net to collect them and keep them in a large plastic tub in the water you found them in. Keep them in a shady spot outside, away from direct sunlight. Change the water out periodically with more of the pond water or rainwater. Observe them each day and journal about what you see as the tadpoles develop into frogs! Use Pond Life Week to do on a deeper study of what can be found in a pond and the difference between toads and frogs.

Do a seed study

We love learning about seed germination and planting a bean seed in a glass jar to watch the process. Go on a nature walk and hunt for various types of seeds to dissect and identify. Use Seeds & Sprouts Week for instructions on how to do the Bean Experiment, a chart to track observations, and a loaded book list to dive deeper into the world of seeds.

Related: 13 Spring STEM Nature Activities for Kids

Go berry picking or visit a farmer’s market

If you live somewhere where you can visit a blueberry or strawberry farm and pick your own berries, take advantage of this fun and great learning experience. Learn about the growing process before or after you go. Come home and make jam, pie, or wash and freeze them for later!

Learn about life cycles and raise butterflies

There are many life cycles to learn about in the Spring, but our favorites are frogs, butterflies, and birds. Read some books on the subject and journal about what you have learned. If you want to see the change up close, consider ordering a butterfly kit and raising some butterflies! You can find life cycle display sheets in many of the weeks of Treehouse Nature Study.

To explore the world of moths and butterflies even deeper, try a free week of Treehouse Nature Study: Spring.

Identify and dissect flowers

Grab a bouquet of wildflowers and use a flower ID book or online source to identify them. Then, have some fun using tweezers to dissect them and learn the flower parts. You could even use the petals for a craft like a flower crown or a flower suncatcher. You can find a Common Spring Flowers ID sheet and a Flower Dissection Guide in Spring Flowers Week of Treehouse Nature Study: Spring, as well as instructions to make wildflower seed bombs!

Related: Sunflower Dissection Activity for Kids [Free Unit Study]

Make a backyard bird feeder

There are tons of ways to make a backyard birdfeeder, but we like to use peanut butter on pinecones and then pack the birdseed around it. We hang it from some twine and watch the birds enjoy. Try watching the bird feeder each day for a week and making a tally chart of which types of birds you see on each day of a week. I love the book Birds, Nests, and Eggs to learn about all types of birds! Birds Week is packed with great books and projects to study those feathered friends all season long.

Make a wormery

Grab some worms from a bait shop or dig some up and create a big wormery. Observe them each day and journal what they did. You can also find instructions in Snails and Worms Week, along with books, projects, and display sheets to learn more.

Start a garden

Spend some time planning a little backyard garden if you don’t already have one. Involve the kids in the entire process, from the planning to the harvesting (and eating!). Enjoy the fruits of your labor all spring long. Edible Gardening Week has instructions for beginning a simple container garden.

Nature resources from Treehouse Schoolhouse

Treehouse Nature Study, Primary Years

Treehouse Nature Study, Primary Years is a seasonal nature study curriculum designed with family-style learning in mind. It is a gentle guide meant to invite various ages to connect with each other and the world around them through living books, nature notebooking, hands-on projects, and beauty subjects such as poetry, picture study, and folk songs.

From preschool through upper middle school, it appeals to every age and is easily used with multiple ages at the same time.

It would be a great fit for your preschool or kindergartener’s core curriculum or your whole family’s home education Morning Time and Nature Study. It also provides supplemental work for your children’s language arts through poetry memorization, recitation, copywork, and notebooking.

Related: Six Core Values of Treehouse Nature Study

Treehouse Nature Study, Intermediate Years

Treehouse Nature Study, Intermediate Years is geared towards children in 4th-8th grades. Experience a seasonal study that invites your older children to connect with each other and the world around them through living books, nature notebooking, hands-on projects, poetry, and picture study. Deepen your child’s learning through advanced language arts and scientific experiments.

It would be a great fit for your upper elementary or middle schooler’s science curriculum or your whole family’s home education Morning Time and Nature Study. It also provides supplemental work for your children’s language arts through poetry copywork, creating an Illustrated Science Dictionary, creative writing prompts, notebooking, and internet research.

Related: Overview: Treehouse Nature Study, Intermediate Years

Ready to join us this spring? Let us know how you will incorporate spring in your homeschool in the comments below.