6 Easy & Open-Ended Spring Activities For Children
Spring, is that you boo? It’s been feeling unseasonably warm over here in San Diego, and so we’re gearing up for the bright and floral activities that put some pep in our step. What are you and your children’s favorite activities this time of year? Often you can find us playing without any particular agenda whenever we can. Once a week (when I’m in the mood!) both my children get psyched about seasonal craft. It’s usually open-ended and a cinch to set up.
Do your children enjoy process art at home or school? Process art is not about teaching children how to do art with cookie cutter results. It’s all about the experience, and discovering their own unique interests and abilities. It’s about freedom and creativity, not rules!
There is something about this concept that feels good for our family, and gives me a thrill to watch. Which Spring activities are your family favorites? Feel free to share in the comments!
Below are 6 easy and open-ended Spring activities your children might enjoy.
Make Spring Play-Dough
My kids and I love making play-dough and make a fresh batch just about every season. It’s ready in two shakes of a tale feather and the color/scents/add-ins to mix in are endless! 🌈 I shared a Spring recipe with you below. I’d love to hear if you make it, and favorite versions of this with your kids.
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🌺Spring Play-dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbs cream of tartar
1-1.5 cups water mixed with a food coloring of choice (we used green and pink)
2 Tbs coconut oil
5 drops flower essential oil (rose, lavender, or geranium work well)
2 tablespoons dried flower petals (roses, lavender, or dandelions work well)
Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl (excluding flowers). In a small sauce pan, stir together all wet ingredients including essential oils and oil. Bring to boil, and slowly pour over dry ingredients, mixing well as you go. Knead for a few minutes until the texture feels like play dough (more flour or water is sometimes needed). Once it’s cool, children might enjoy kneading in the flower petals. 🌸🌷🌹
Paint A Play Silk
Sometimes life can feel magical all on its own (when your very favorite part of your very favorite movie is on TV, or your toddler cooperates for a diaper change 🙌🏼 ✨). Sometimes you’ve got to create a little magic too. A basket full of watercolor paints 🎨 next to some white silk scarves and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the park can create a magical afternoon.
Allow children to paint as they wish, swirling colors or painting 3 stripes and announcing, “I’m done!” Their way is the right way, and they will love them all the more if done by their own hands. It dries faster than a toddler can ask 12 times, “when it dry?” ;).
I enjoy watching both children imagine their own way with the playsilks - and I’ve seen them become capes, pirate belts, wind catchers, baby doll blankets, and snuggled at night time.
Paint A Stick As A Collaboration
Grab a big stick and some tempura paints and away they go! Going stick-hunting is part of the fun. With collaborative art, children work on social and emotional skills as they navigate how to paint together. This looked pretty displayed in our children’s room when it dried.
Create A Nature Table
Do you have a nature table in your home? It can change every season, and with many possibilities, depending on where you live and travel to. Ours is truly treasured - it’s where nature finds are stored, and also where open-ended play and crafts begin. Seashells become telephones and flower petals get glued on art projects. I often notice that rocks and flowers gets used in block and Magnatile play, if I intentionally set them up together.
Craft A Spring Lantern
I can’t say enough about how easy and fun these are to create! A friend of mine used red, white, and blue tissue paper for Memorial Day lanterns. We chose Spring colors and put them on the patio. These are fun to make in the Fall and Winter months as well, when it gets dark early.
What you need:
A glass jar (we used jelly jars)
Tissue paper
Modge podge
Paint brush
Tea light
Tear or cut tissue paper into different shapes and sizes. Both children (ages 3 and 6) took their time doing this. Using a paint brush, take pieces of tissue paper and glue it on the inside of the glass, letting children decide which colors and shapes they’d like. When it’s dry, place a tea light inside. Enjoy ❤️
Arrange Flowers For The Dinner Table
Trader Joe’s has my favorite flowers, and a friend of mine finds the prettiest combinations at the Farmer’s Market. Spread the flowers on a table next to a vase around dinner time and see what happens. Sometimes I wonder aloud as they get started, “I wonder how you’ll arrange them? When you take your time it turns out so pretty.” <3
I hope you enjoyed this post! I’d love to know, what Spring activities are your children’s’ favorite? Do you have a Spring activity you look forward to every year?
With love,
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