Burnout this time of year can impact everyone in your home, and we’re here to help. With these easy, fun, and affordable activities, you can keep the springtime learning going and keep your child engaged. If you’re not looking to make any major changes in your homeschool schedule, many of these ideas are perfect for changing things up without taking up too much time. Feel free to modify them as you see fit.
Springtime Activities and Resources
Go on a scavenger hunt for flowers, leaves, or maybe even seeds. Make a list of safe and unsafe flora, so your children know which ones to avoid. Your younger students can use these flowers, leaves, and seeds as math manipulatives to practice and reinforce tricky concepts like grouping and fractions.
- There is no better cure for spring fever than the right field trip, at the right time. Whether you’re looking for hidden gems in your local area, or planning a trip to a different state, our field trip guides are a great place to start. We have a guide for each of the 50 U.S states, as well as the U.S. Territories.
- Start a garden. Older students can study geography by researching what can be planted and maintained based on your location. Younger students can explore weather and climate. Some questions to ask: Why can/can’t this be planted here? Can what you’re planting grow in darker, shadier areas or does it need a lot of sunshine to thrive? What kind of watering schedule, if any, will we need to follow? Do we need anything around the garden to prevent local wildlife from snacking on our fruits and veggies?
- Take time-lapse photos of what you planted every day. Document and study how long it takes something to sprout, and how quickly it can grow. Didn’t have a chance to get your garden started? Take time-lapse pictures of blooming flowers! Once you’re ready, you can take all of your photos and create a video of the growth!
- Learn the importance of the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) when it comes to protecting our environment. Discuss and implement ways your family can help our planet and become more eco-friendly.
- Want to help your child build writing skills this spring? Try journaling or writing prompts, which direct students to write about a particular topic. They are especially useful when your child doesn’t know quite where to start with their creative writing. Here’s a writing prompt to help jump start your young writer’s imagination.
- You can also volunteer in your community at animal shelters, food pantries, senior centers, and other places that need help. Perform random acts of kindness every day through the spring season. Maybe you’ll find that you’re fostering a new life-long habit! Outside of making a difference and doing something nice for someone else, many high schoolers look for community service hours to complete their transcripts in preparation for the college application process.
- Come up with a spring-themed unit study or explore project-based learning. Project-based learning, or PBL, is a child-led teaching method that will give your students the opportunity to solve problems or answer questions by completing hands-on projects.
- Looking for quick opportunities to enjoy spring temperatures and extra sunlight that don’t involve too much planning and are a little more spontaneous?
- Learn a new outdoor game
- Play in a puddle
- Find a new park
- Go to the beach
- Take a road trip
- Make chalk drawings on your driveway
- Read outside
- Stargaze
- Have a picnic
Shaking off springtime boredom doesn’t have to be complicated or stressful. We hope our tips and activities help your family keep the learning going this spring. Feel free to add in some ideas of your own, and share them in the comments section below. Above all else, don’t forget to have fun!
