Spring themes for preschool: seeds, rain, frogs, butterflies

Peabody has nine spring themes for preschool, from March to May: seeds and growing, rain and rainbows, frogs and ponds, butterflies, birds and nests, flowers, bugs, rocks and dirt, and spring itself. Each is a full week of circle time, books, a craft, a public-domain song with its words, a Kitchen snack, a letter pack and an outside game. Pick one in the theme planner and it's planned. Peabody is free through the end of 2026.

Spring is the easiest season to theme, because the yard does half the work. Below are the four big ones in detail, then the other five, then a way to string them together.

Seeds and growing (March, April)

The seeds and growing week is seeds, soil, water and sun, with a bean planted in a cup to watch all week.

• Circle time question: "What does a seed need to grow?"
• Letter: G is for grow.
• Craft: a bean in a cup. Wet cotton balls or soil go in a clear cup; a grown-up holds the dried bean and pushes it in against the side so the children can see it. Water a little each day and watch for the root.
• Song: "Lavender's Blue."
• Snack: Chia Pudding.
• Outside: grow like a seed. Curl up small; the rain falls, the sun shines, and everyone grows slowly up tall.
• Books: Meg and the Seed (level 3), At the Farm (level 3), and two read-alouds, The Bean in the Cup and The Enormous Turnip.

Run this one early. The bean keeps growing into the next week, whatever theme that is.

Rain and rainbows (March, April)

The rain and rainbows week is clouds, puddles, umbrellas and the colors of a rainbow in order.

• Question: "Where does rain come from?"
• Letter: R is for rain.
• Craft: a paper-plate rainbow. Stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple across half a plate, with cotton-ball clouds at both ends.
• Song: "Doctor Foster," who went to Gloucester in a shower of rain.
• Snack: Fruit Kabobs.
• Outside: puddle jump, in chalk puddles or real ones in boots.
• Books: Rain on the Hat (level 3), Pit, Pat (level 0), and two read-alouds, Kate and the Puddle and Ruby and the Rainy Picnic.

Frogs and ponds (April, May)

The frogs and ponds week goes from egg to tadpole to frog, with lily pads and lots of hopping.

• Question: "What does a frog start out as?"
• Letter: F is for frog.
• Craft: a lily-pad frog: a green plate colored as the lily pad, a paper frog with a drawn face glued on top.
• Song: "Jack Be Nimble," for the jumping.
• Snack: Kiwi Turtles.
• Outside: lily-pad hop. Lay paper or hoop lily pads on the grass and hop from pad to pad without touching the pond.
• Books: Frog on a Log (level 2), Jump, Jump, Jump! (level 2), and two read-alouds, Frogs Are Amazing and Gus and the Big Rock.

Butterflies (May)

The butterflies week is egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly, and wings that match on both sides.

• Question: "What does a caterpillar turn into?"
• Letter: B is for butterfly.
• Craft: a fold-print butterfly. A grown-up cuts the paper butterfly; the children drop washable paint on one wing, fold, press and open it up. The wings match. A pipe-cleaner body goes on when it's dry.
• Song: "Ring Around the Rosie."
• Snack: Fruit Caterpillar.
• Outside: crawl like a caterpillar, curl up still as a chrysalis, then fly around the yard as a butterfly.
• Books: Meg and the Seed (level 3), Go, Snail, Go! (level 3), and Can I Pet It?, a read-aloud.

The other five spring weeks

A few of their outside games, because they're the part children remember: the spring week walks to spot three new things (a bud, a bird, a flower) with "point, don't pick." Birds and nests sits still and quiet for one minute and counts the birds. Flowers counts the flowers on a walk and leaves them growing. The bug hunt looks under a log or stone with a grown-up, counts, and puts it back.

Every snack links to its Kitchen page, which lists allergens and swaps. Check the energy balls page before a room with a nut allergy.

Stringing spring together

The spring weeks lead into each other, so they're worth running in order. One way, using the months each theme lists:

1. March: spring, then seeds and growing (plant the beans).
2. Late March or April: rain and rainbows (the beans get watered), then birds and nests.
3. April: flowers, then rocks and dirt.
4. May: frogs and ponds, then butterflies, then bugs into June.

The month pages for March, April and May list every theme rooms usually run then, including any-time ones like weather, dinosaurs and opposites. If you'd rather think in months than weeks, the weekly vs monthly post covers that.

Try this week

1. Walk the yard before you plan. Buds, puddles, birds or bugs? Pick the theme that's already out there.
2. Open the planner, pick next Monday and the theme, and pick your room's ages. For twos, the craft line tells you a grown-up pours the paint and holds the glue.
3. Add a day note for a rain plan.
4. Print the wall sheet and the family note.
5. Open the theme's books in Peabody's free library on a tablet before Monday.

The crafts are all six materials or fewer, nothing hot. The easy crafts post has more on how they're written.

Three things providers ask

Which spring theme should come first?

Seeds and growing, if you can. A bean planted in March keeps the room checking on it for weeks, whatever theme comes next.

Is the bean craft safe for twos?

The craft says a grown-up holds the dried bean and pushes it into the cup. Keep the beans out of reach, as with anything small enough to swallow.

Can we do bugs without touching any?

Yes. The bug hunt is look, count and put it back, with a grown-up, and never take a bug home.