5 SPRING Activities for Homeschoolers
With Links to Events in NYC and Beyond
After spending too much time indoors during winter, we need to get outside as soon as spring arrives! Here are five family activities for learning, doing, and celebrating the spring season, no matter where you live.
Tips: Don’t try to do it all! Choose one or two activities to start, knowing they might become annual traditions. Use the suggested books and materials for preparation before you go, and to enrich the experience during and after the activity. Make selections carefully, perhaps with your child’s input. Check your library before you buy!
(This post contains affiliate links.)
1. Go Maple Sugaring!
The end of winter marks maple sugaring time. This is an industry unique to northeastern North America, home of the sugar maple. This sweet treat was a gift to us from the Native Americans, who taught us how to tap the trees for syrup. Learning about the sugaring process is a lesson in science and social studies, and it’s delicious!
The Hudson Highlands Nature Center in Warwick, NY (about 90 minutes north of NYC), has maple sugaring hikes and tours in late February and early March.
Muscoot Farm in Katonah, in Westchester (about an hour’s drive north of NYC) has public maple sugaring events in mid-March on weekends.
Maple Weekend happens in March every year in several locations in New York State, as well as states in New England and the Great Lakes region. Here are links to maple sugaring events in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. In Canada, Maple Weekend might happen in early April.
If you have a maple tree on your property, you can learn how to tap it, and have sweet sap to drink or turn into maple syrup.
Suggested Books and Materials on Maple Sugaring
Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder (a Little House picture book) for ages 2-6.
Ininatig’s Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking by Laura Wittstock (We Are Still Here: Native Americans Today) for elementary ages.
Gluskonba and the Maple Trees by Joseph, James and Jesse Bruchac, for ages 3-8.
Maple Moon by Connie Brummel Crook, for ages 3-10.
Adirondack Gold by Persis Granger, historical fiction set in the 1890s Adirondack Mountains, with a detailed description of making maple syrup. For young adults but can appeal to a wider age range.
A Kids’ Guide to Maple Tapping: Let’s Make Maple Syrup by Julie Fryer, for ages 8-12. Learn how to tap your own maple trees!
Maple Syrup Cookbook, 3rd Edition: Over 100 Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by Ken Haedrich. Includes the history of maple syrup up to modern-day production, with photos. Written for adults.
2. Celebrate Earth Day on April 22!
Earth Day is an opportunity to study climate science, connect with nature, practice conservation, and celebrate our planet. Honoring this event combines science, news, social studies, art, writing, and more.
Ocean science and conservation, free lessons for teens from the NOAA
K-12 climate education (free)
Marine biology lessons and activities for pre-K to adult from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (free).
Make a simple book using recycled materials, such as this accordion book by Susan Gaylord celebrating the seasons, made from a brown paper bag.
Write a poem in honor of Earth Day. Here’s a collection of poems for elementary, middle and high school students, on the environment and climate crisis.
Practice recycling and conserving household energy.
Earth Day activities, events and resources
Suggested Books and Materials for Earth Day
My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLachlan (Earth Day Book… for kids). Vividly illustrated and interactive with cut-outs, flaps, contours. For ages 3-6.
Pop-Up Earth by Anne Jankeliowitch, shows the inner workings of the Earth, for ages 5-9.
Knowledge Encyclopedia Planet Earth!: Our Exciting World As You’ve Never Seen It Before by DK, for ages 8-14.
Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet: Sixteen Earth Friendly Projects from Around the World by Susan Gaylord. Bookmaking using recycled materials, in lessons that combine geography and history with language arts. Susan Gaylord also has a YouTube channel with instructional videos.
The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families and Classrooms by Claire Walker Leslie, for grades 3-7.
3. April is Poetry Month!
Celebrate Poetry Month by reading and writing poetry. Look for poems about where you live (perhaps the city or country or a small town), about a person who is like you in some way, and about spring!
Write or read a short poem every day.
Play poetry games that can lead to writing poems.
Host a Slam Poetry Event, where poems are improvised by individual or groups, or a Beatnik Poetry Party or Open Mic Event where volunteers read their poems, and the audience snaps instead of claps (donning black berets and sunglasses is optional). Find an open mic or Poetry Slam event near you!
Put poems in ordinary and unusual places – written on the bathroom mirror or shower wall (perhaps in soap), taped on the fridge or front door, pinned to your hat or coat, written in chalk on the sidewalk or driveway, or written in frosting on a cake.
Celebrate the season by reading and writing poems about spring. Take pen and paper to a park or garden, and write about what you see, smell, hear, taste, feel, and remember.
Make handmade books for your poems, such as a simple four-page accordion that can stand up and display the poems.
Suggested Books and Materials on Poetry
As a poetry teacher and homeschooling parent, I have used and enjoyed all of these books!
Free lessons on Haiku for preK-college, from The Haiku Foundation.
Scroll down this page on Poets.org to find poems for kids sorted by theme, subject, myths, and more.
Poetry lessons from Poets.org that teach poems about spring.
Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year by Fiona Waters (ed.), for elementary grades and up.
When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano, for ages 6-10.
A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul Janezcko.
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, a novel with poems, for ages 9-11.
Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry by Kenneth Koch
Talking to the Sun: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People, Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell, eds., with illustrations from the art collection of the Metropolitan Museum.
Blank lined journal notebook, 5.7” X 8”, in a variety of colors.
Paperage Blank Journal Notebook, 5.6” X 8”, in a variety of colors.
Leather Notebook Journal, refillable,9.2” X 6.5”, faux leather in a vintage style.
Retractable gel pens in 14 colors, making writing more fun!
4. Visit Baby Farm Animals!
Many farm animals are born in spring. Also, the first week in April is National Wildlife Week. Celebrate by visiting baby animals! This is hands-on science. Learn about animal behavior! Combine this field trip with art (photos, drawings), writing (poetry, stories, fables), math about animals (how much do they weigh? How big do they grow?), and follow up with research to answer any animal questions.
Find a farm, patting zoo, or pet store near you, where you can see the animals and possibly pet them. Bring questions to interview the farmer, zookeeper or pet store owner.
Ort Farms in Long Valley, New Jersey, has a Baby Animal Day in early April.
Suffolk County Farm has an annual Baby Animal Day (probably the second Saturday in May) in Yaphank, Long Island.
Baby Animal Day at Harbes Family Farm, in Mattituck on Long Island’s North Fork, is in late May.
Look at webcams of baby animals! You can do this every morning at the breakfast table and see if the animals are having breakfast too! Here are links to zoo cams across the USA, with related educational materials for K-8. More viewing at San Diego Zoo live web cams , and Cleveland MetroParks Baby Animal Cam.
Watch movies and videos about baby animals. Educational videos on YouTube include: Baby Animal Predators: Lions, Cheetahs, Foxes, and Rescuing Baby Animals, Bandit Patrol, Nat Geo Kids. Find more on the Nat Geo Kids page.
Suggested Books and Materials on Baby Animals
Baby Farm Animals by Garth Williams, beloved illustrator. A Little Golden Book for ages 1-5.
Baby Animals by Garth Williams (Little Golden Book), for ages 3-7
A Lot of Otters by Barbara Helen Berger, beautifully illustrated with mother and baby otters, for ages 1-7.
How Animal Babies Stay Safe (Let’s Read-and-Find-Out-Science) by Mary Ann Fraser, for ages 4-8.
Raising Chicks: Suburban Homesteading Activities for Families Volume 2 by Elaina Purdy and Sabrina Purdy, for ages 3-18.
5. Witness Songbird Migration!
This activity combines geography with science. Go outdoors with a pair of binoculars and a bird field guide. Listen to birdsongs and look for species that weren’t there last month. Spring migration happens March-May; fall migration is from late August to early November.
Follow bird migration on live maps and Audubon Bird Migration Explorer, as well as Journey North.
Watch birds on web cams, like the Cornell Lab Bird Cams and Bird Feeder Cams from Around the World.
Install a bird feeder that you can watch from a window in your home. Make a bird feeder using recycled materials.
Go bird watching in your own neighborhood or local park. Visit your local Audubon. Find your local Audubon Center or Sanctuary and check their events calendar before planning a visit.
In NY/Westchester/NJ: Teatown, in Ossining, NY, has an EagleFest the first Saturday in February, celebrating the Eagle at the start of annual migration. Participate in the annual Hawk Watch and Hawk Count at many locations in the Hudson Valley, such as Hook Mountain in Nyack. Raccoon Ridge in New Jersey is also part of the Hawk Count.
In NYC: see multitudes of spring birds in Central Park in Manhattan (go to the Ramble), Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and parks in all NYC boroughs.
The worldwide event, World Migratory Bird Day, happens every May and October.
Check out Birding Festivals across the USA.
Learn more about birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with free online lessons for K-12. This topic appeals to all ages!
Choose a bird you want to learn more about and create a research and art project on that bird.
Make bird finger puppets by downloading these free templates from Mr. Printables.
Suggested Books and Materials on Birdwatching and Migration
Is This Panama: A Migration Story by Jan Thornill, for ages 8-11.
Backyard Birds (Petersen Field Guides Young Naturalists), for ages 5-9.
Bird Watch Book for Kids: Introduction to Bird Watching for ages 8-12, includes journal pages.
My Awesome Field Guide to North American Birds: Find and Identify Your Feathered Friends (My Awesome Field Guide for Kids), for ages 8-12.
The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America (Petersen Field Guides) for ages 9 and up.
Living On the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds by Scott Wiedensaul, a fascinating account by an ornithologist in the wild, for teens and adults.
Winged Migration (Blu-Ray, DVD, or streamed on Amazon Prime) award-winning documentary film good for family viewing.
Compact binoculars for kids and adults, ideal for bird watching.
Mini binoculars for adults and kids, for bird watching.
©Laurie Block Spigel 2025 / All Rights Reserved.