Fun Spring Activities for Kids

Make Your Own Bubbles

Blowing bubbles is usually a hit with kids of all ages. Even better than just blowing them is making them yourself with a few supplies you probably already have on hand. For DIY bubbles you need just water, dish soap, and glycerine. Here's a quick recipe to make your own bubbles:

1. Pour 1 cup of water into a jar or bowl.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of dish soap.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of glycerine.
4. Stir ingredients. If bubbles don't form well, add a bit more soap or glycerine.

Once you mix up a batch, play some backyard games with bubbles. For instance, try the bubble pop freeze dance where someone blows bubbles and players pop as many as they can until the music goes off and they must freeze. Anyone who doesn’t freeze is out until there’s only one player left. Or try bubble tag, in which the person who’s “it” must tag another player by blowing a bubble that hits them.

Make Magic Potion

Spring feels like a magical time with all the new growth and return of the warm sun. Help kids celebrate its arrival by making a batch of "magic potion." They can collect natural ingredients from the backyard, such as berries, flower petals, and leaf clippings, and mix them up with a solution of water (dyed with natural coloring if you wish). Then, have them pour it into the grass or garden to help make things grow and blossom. Or create a fairy garden and pour some magic potion into a tiny pond.

Throw a Flower-Themed Party

Need an idea for a spring equinox party for kids? A spring-fling party theme celebrates everything floral, complete with flower-themed decorations, cake or cupcakes, crafts, and games. In addition to paper goods and plates with floral patterns, party decorations can include:

• Cut flower or paper flower centerpieces
• Larger paper flowers or flower garlands can decorate fences and doorways
• Hanging paper flowers from tree branches
• A flower wall for a photo backdrop

There are tons of ways to make simple paper flowers. You can glue a couple of layers of cupcake liners in different colors and patterns with a "stem" made from a straw. Or draw, cut, and paint flower petals from paper plates held together with a faux stem.

Here's how to make flowers of all sizes using colorful tissue paper and pipe cleaners in six easy steps:

1. Cut tissue paper into rectangles (colors and sizes are up to you but for huge flowers, use very large rectangles).
2. Stack about five rectangles neatly on top of each other.
3. Begin folding the stack of tissue paper accordion-style, starting from one of the narrow ends.
4. Hold the folded tissue paper together by wrapping one end of a pipe cleaner around the middle.
5. Cut each end of the tissue paper in angles, curves, or any way you'd like.
6. Gently pull and fluff each layer of tissue paper to create a one-of-a-kind flower!

After the party, use these faux flowers to make a pretty flower wall for your child's bedroom.

Make a Birdhouse

In the spring, birds return to the landscape and are looking for places to nest. So making a birdhouse with your kids is the perfect spring project. Go the extra step and learn about the types of common backyard birds that visit your area and what to include or omit from your birdhouse. Setting up a birdbath in addition to a birdhouse can welcome more species into your yard.

There are many creative ways to build a birdhouse to suit your style and crafting ability. To make things easier, you can purchase a birdhouse kit at many craft stores that comes with simple instructions and all the supplies you need.

To make a basic birdhouse without a kit with your kids, all you need is an empty cardboard milk carton. Follow these quick steps to create a birdhouse:

1. Thoroughly clean and dry the interior and exterior of the milk carton.
2. Decorate the exterior of the milk carton with non-toxic paint. Decorate the top of the milk carton (the roof of the birdhouse) with popsicle sticks.
3. Cut a small hole (the size of a golf ball) on one side of the carton.
4. Hot glue a dowel or part of a stick underneath the small hole for a perch for the birds. The perch should stick out from the carton at least a couple of inches.
5. Attach string, twine, or even a bent wire hanger to the "roof" of the carton. Hang the birdhouse from a branch.

Grow a Vegetable

Take kids to the garden center, and have them pick a low-maintenance vegetable they can plant and grow in the ground or a container. Teach them how to care for the plant, and make that their project for the spring. Once they can harvest their veggies from their garden, look up some fun recipes that feature what they grew as the main ingredient. Plan a meal or a big salad that your kids can help prepare.

Have a Spring Scavenger Hunt

What can you see in springtime that's different from the rest of the year? Maybe it's flowers that only bloom in the spring, a tree's buds, insects and wildlife, or pinecones uncovered by melting snow. Get together with the kids to compose a list of things nature brings in the springtime. Then go outside for a scavenger hunt, and collect a sample of each or take photos of what can't be captured. Want to turn it into a competition? Make two lists, split the kids into teams, and race to see who is the first to retrieve everything. 

Take Spring Photos

Spring is a lovely time to get outside and take some photos. Challenge the kids to scope out the best spring backdrop for a family photoshoot. Visit a beach, lake, or nearby botanical garden that's just beginning to come to life. Encourage your child to examine what early spring flowers are starting to bloom in your yard for close-up shots. You may even spot a bird's nest tucked away in your bushes that your child can photograph. Then, print your pictures, and have your kids use them to make scrapbook pages or framed photos for Mother's Day gifts. 

Throw a Rain-Themed Party

Spring is known for sunshine and flowers, but it also tends to boast a fair amount of rainy days. Don't let the season's sogginess get you down. Instead, celebrate the wet weather by throwing a party with a rainy-day theme. For example, serve drinks with little paper umbrellas in them. And offer rainbow food, such as a fruit platter with lots of color or cupcakes with rainbow frosting. Capture some raindrops in a bottle and put a few drops under a microscope and let guests see what they look like up close.