Spring Children's Books – Teach Signs of Spring

Kids Picture Books About Spring Activities & What Happens in Spring

Mar 4, 2009 Renee Carver

Parents and teachers can use these recommended children's board books and children's picture books to teach the signs of spring and read about popular spring activities.

Well-written picture books for children both entertain and introduce children to new ways of understanding the world. Check out the following recommended spring children's books to teach babies, toddlers, and children about what happens in spring.

Kids Picture Books About Spring – Baby to Preschool

The minimalist text and illustrations of Spring Is Here by Taro Gomi [Chronicle Books, 1999] will hold a small child's interest while the narrative of the book cycles through the seasons. Brown spots bloom on the white hide of a calf and transform with a turn of the page into a farm field that is covered with rows of green sprouts. Each spread focuses on another event in nature, from the wind and rain of spring and summer to the fall harvest and the quiet winter snows that bring the book full-circle by transforming once again into the white hide of the calf, now a year older and horned.

With patterned rhythmic text and bright illustrations in vibrant pastel hues, Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson [Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2005] tells about the spring animals and plants Mouse and Momma encounter as they take a walk on a spring day. Children will enjoy guessing the name of each spring thing described before Momma supplies the answer.

Kids Picture Books About Spring – Children Ages 4 to 8

Originally published in 1945, Spring Is Here by Lois Lenski [Random House, 2005] pairs rhyming text about the things kids see and do in spring with charming pictures of children at play drawn in Lenski's unmistakable folksy style. While a few of the activities are dated (watching the milkman's horse, rolling a hoop), the majority are classic pastimes that will teach children that life in the past was not so different than life today and motivate them to participate in such timeless springtime activities as birdwatching and planting a garden.

It's Spring! from the Celebrate the Seasons series by Linda Glaser [Millbrook Press, 2002] uses striking illustrations made from layers of hand-painted cut pieces of paper to portray various spring sights. Events in nature that children can observe are emphasized, and the book ends with several pages of detailed suggestions for nature activities to do in spring.

Spring from the Four Seasons series by Nuria Roca [Barron's Educational Series, 2004] teaches while it entertains: each lively spread about a different facet of spring contains short educational activities or discussion questions for children to answer. The book ends with descriptions of several fun spring crafts and activities and a parents' guide. It is also available in a Spanish edition.

Children's Picture Books About Signs of Spring – Spring Thaw Books

Mud by Mary Lyn Ray [Voyager Books, 2001] is a free-verse poem that narrates what happens when the earth thaws in spring and creates gobs of mud in which a child can play (and squish, splat, slurp). Close-up illustrations depict what it is like to dig feet and hands in seas of mud and will inspire young readers to partake in some mud-play of their own.

Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur [Viking Juvenile, 2000] uses sophisticated descriptive and poetic language to tell what happens in spring in nature and on a maple farm when the spring thaw takes hold of the land.

Nonfiction Spring Children's Books

Spring Things by Bob Raczka [Albert Whitman & Company, 2007] captures the energy of spring by pairing bright paintings with words from a poem made up almost entirely of action verbs describing spring activities that end with "ing."

Each page of Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur [Clarion Books, 1999] contains an acrostic poem made from a spring-related word, one for each letter A to Z.

The Spring Equinox by Ellen Jackson [The Millbrook Press, 2002] serves as a good nonfiction introduction to the spring equinox and springtime rites from around the world. It covers religious spring celebrations like Passover and Easter and secular ones like Earth Day. Includes activities at the back such as Easter games, recipes, and crafts.

Any of the above children's picture books will help kids distinguish spring from the other seasons and give them ideas for things to watch for or do during this season.

Parents and teachers can also check out recommendations for picture books for children about all four seasons.

The copyright of the article Spring Children's Books – Teach Signs of Spring in Children’s Books is owned by Renee Carver. Permission to republish Spring Children's Books – Teach Signs of Spring in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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