4 Activities for Early Springtime 🌸
toilet paper cherry blossoms, couch gardens, and more!
Hello! Some of you are still waiting for signs of spring, some of you have been seeing daffodils for months, and some of you live in a climate with different seasons altogether. But, gosh, how crazy that we live in a world where things that look absolutely dead and dreary today can be vibrant and full of life a month from now! Spring feels like a million miracles. It’s amazing.
So let’s do some early-spring activities, shall we?
Toilet Paper Cherry Blossoms
Cherry blossoms are one of the first trees to bloom in spring, and they’re a gorgeous white-and-pink reminder that all is not lost.1
Before making your own cherry blossom artwork, show your kids a picture of some so they remember what they look like. Here’s a photo I took a couple days ago:
You might also want to draw a simple branch with a crayon or something for your kids to help them get started. (Easy tree branch: wiggly line then some Y’s coming off it.) Then give them some toilet paper and glue and encourage them to rip off little pieces to add blossoms to their branch. Then give them some watercolors and invite them to add little touches of pink!
I gave my kids Q-tips for applying the glue so they didn’t have to keep squirting the bottle.
Not a masterpiece, but it keeps ‘em busy for a bit and it’s fun to feel like you’re building and painting a flowering branch!
Couch Gardens
Inviting your kids to partake in actual gardening is ideal, of course, but if you’re like me…it’s one of those “someday” things 😬
A less awesome (but doable) alternative: cardboard vegetables wedged between your couch cushions 😅
Sago Mini has some awesome pretend-play printables for free, and this printable couch garden is too cute. We glued that sheet to a cereal box so they’d be extra sturdy. If you don’t have a printer, you can draw different root vegetables yourself with Sharpie.
It is good for little ones to feel like they can take ownership of something and have something to tend to. You might even want to make a little sign designating the space for them.
Springtime Foccacia
You can make beautiful art with peppers, herbs, onions, etc…and then eat it! Focaccia is a wonderful medium. I recommend Googling “focaccia art” for some inspiration, then going wild creating!
You can also use pizza dough or even a slice of bread!
Spring Cleaning BINGO
The last activity might not be the most exciting, but this stuff has to happen eventually! Why not make it a game? Maybe you could have a challenge like each time you get BINGO, you get to donate $1 to a charity of your choice. Maybe once everything is done, you get to go for ice cream! You get the idea.
You can save this to your phone and use the “markup” feature to cross out each complete task, if you like!
I hope that helps! Have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Hope from Family Scripts
People of faith might be encouraged by the song “Cherry Blossoms” by Andy Squyres. He sings “In winter, I believe You // In springtime, I see You.” Sometimes little hints of hope make it a little easier to believe that things won’t feel so bleak forever.
That spring cleaning bingo is a great idea. Much more fun than a to do list.
I love your couch cushion garden idea!