The weather has been so changeable for us here in Northern Ireland this month! The children have been tracking the weather daily with a chart from The Wise Owl Factory (It’s the Free March Sudoku and Graphing). In addition, they have also been going out on nature walks and looking for the signs of spring.
Growing up Spring was my least-favourite season due to allergies and hayfever to the Nth degree. How ever since moving overseas and away from the offending pollens, I have begun to really enjoy spring! And my children like it too!
Even though many things stay green here year-round, spring is still full of new growth and promise. There are always new things to explore. It’s interesting to hunt out the spring flora and fauna, just to make sure that the world is right.
Spring is a good time for children to learn about life-cycles and in the past they’ve seen a calf born, and they’ve raised some frog spawn from a friend’s pond through the stages of tadpoles and froglets into froghood. We’ll be watching the frog life-cycle again this year. We were out last week checking on our little green friends.
This year I thought it would be fun for the children to not just go for a walk around the village, but to be more intentional and observant with their surroundings. To help them do this, I’ve created a Signs of Spring chart that they can put in a plastic cover and take with them. They can use a dry-erase marker to check off the things that they see.
To make things more interesting, and because they love graphing so much, I also created a Signs of Spring Graph for them. Each time they spot one of the items they can put an ‘X’ in the corresponding box.
The children can have a friendly competition between them to see who can be the first to fill a column, or we can set a time or a distance at which point we can stop and count what they’ve seen the most of, and the least of.
Tristan and Kallista noticed many more signs this week than last and they’re asking for another chart and graph! I will have to see what we can do about that.
But in the meantime…
To access your copy, simply sign up for our emails and you’ll find a link and password at the bottom of the emails that will give you access to this free printable, as well as all the past subscriber freebies that we’ve done.
I hope that your children enjoy this activity as much as mine have! Let us know how it goes in the comments below.
If there are any signs of spring you’d like to see included in our next version, please let me know.
Nicole says
Thank you for sharing! Glad I found you!
In England,
Nicole
Crystal McClean says
It’s nice to meet you, Nicole!
Please stop by anytime to chat 🙂
I hoe you’re enjoying the weather this week 🙂
Kareen Liez says
Nice way to bring the kids out of the house! Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board.
Crystal McClean says
Thank you for sharing 🙂
We’re having lovely weather today – perfect for walking!
Have a great week.
Bonnie Way says
What a cool idea! Things stay green around here (Vancouver) too but we’ve definitely seen some signs of spring. I remember finding frog eggs and tadpoles as a kid but my kids have never seen them. That’s cool your kids have experience so much! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
leahrc says
Thank you. This is great. (And makes me wish I were Ireland. 🙂 ) It’s beautiful!
Crystal McClean says
Thank you. What signs of spring can you see now where you are?
leahrc says
We have some flowers coming up in the front yard. There are beautiful daffodils that bloom every year. Another sign around here is also rain. 🙂 When we feel as if we need to build an ark, that means it’s spring. 🙂
annette from A Net in Time says
nice little printable. Gives good things to look for on a walk. 🙂
Crystal McClean says
Thank you, Annette! It makes walking more pleasant when you have things to look for. What do you look for when you’re out walking?
annette from A Net in Time says
depends on what time in spring I’m walking. Early I just look for any signs of green or budding or birds, middle I look for flowers, end I look for nests and tadpoles and such like. 🙂
Crystal McClean says
There are definitely different things to see in spring, you’re right! That’s why the kids want me to make another one for them with more things to find a week later!
Carolyn Wilhelm says
Beautiful printable and inspiring post. Your children are real scientists! This is such a nice idea. It is wonderful to get the children outdoors and engaged so they aren’t thinking about the possible lazy ideas! Clever!
Crystal McClean says
Thank you very much, Carolyn! They’ve really enjoyed getting out and want to do it again tomorrow! And thank you for the suggestion as well.