The Best Spring Activities to Celebrate the Equinox and Warmer Weather

Spring is coming which means we can finally get back outdoors and start enjoying the sun again! That also means we can move some of our lessons outdoors and start new STEM and Spring is coming which means we can finally get back outdoors and start enjoying the sun again! That also means we can move some of our lessons outdoors and start new new STEM and STEAM studies. I’ve created a spring bucket list of activities that include some of our favorite things to do in the classroom or with the whole family. We have a great spring of learning ahead of us! Check out all of our Spring Activity plans!

SPRING STEM ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

What you will discover in this article!

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Spring is when we are all aching to burst through the doors and into the sunshine to enjoy some outdoor activities. We love being outside. Going for a hike, bike ride, visits to the farmer’s market, a road trip or just visiting the local park. So after a long, cold Canadian winter, we can’t wait to get outdoors and enjoy this great time of year!

When I’m making these plans for the kids I try to source activities that work on at least two pillars of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM). With it being spring I found myself really drawn to any activity that was bright and colorful. We’ve had too many months of winter greys! I also tried to incorporate a few activities that would be perfect for celebrating the Spring Equinox.

SEASONS SCIENCE

One of the first things we need to do to celebrate the Spring Equinox is to create new Wheel of the Year crafts. I recycled ours and my boys are not impressed! This is a simple activity but great for reflecting on the seasons and how they connect together.

Celebrating the seasons - Create a Wheel of the Year that actually spins and learn about the seasons and months of the year

Since the Spring Equinox is about balance and being the midpoint between the solstices, I want to do a balancing exercise with the kids. Last fall, after the birds had all moved away we did this with abandoned birds nests. This spring we obviously do not want to touch any birds nests, so instead I will challenge the boys to use tools and scrap materials to design and build a balance scale.

Next we will repeat a quick and easy experiment that demonstrates how the sun in relation to Earth causes the seasons.

The summer solstice marks the beginning of summer, but what causes the seasons to change? Learn about the science behind the seasons with this experiment.

WEATHER

One of the great things about spring season is getting outside and enjoying nature again. That makes it a great time to learn more about the weather. One of the studies we are going to do this year is wind and with that in mind I have two wind activities. One is a favorite of ours from the past that links into an amazing book, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, and involves building a mechanical windmill.

Wind Power STEM Challenge - Mission: Lego Rescue. A fantastic STEM challenge that encourages the creation of mechanical energy with a tinker box windmill to "rescue" a minifig.

Another way to explore the power of wind is to create wind powered (or air powered) cars. There are two ways to do this, you can build a Balloon Dragster or try our Make It Move Challenge.

A boy is smiling as he blows up a yellow balloon in a dragster car build. Overlay text says Balloon Dragster STEM Build

MAKE IT MOVE! - STEM Challenge that kids of all ages will love as they race to the finish!

Rainbows are one of the most colorful and exciting ways spring has of announcing its arrival. This makes spring a fantastic time for some STEM rainbow activities. I found so many! I put them all together in one place so you can pick your favourite. Check out all these gorgeous Rainbow Activities.

One of our favourite new Rainbow activities is this Rainbow Bridge STEM challenge.

Weathering and erosion are something that is constantly happening all around us, but there is a difference. This activity will explore those differences, then afterwards we can make some erupting volcano slime and explore the fissures created and decide if it’s weathering or erosion that is causing them.

Erupting Slime - A Saline Slime STEM Activity that incorporates the traditional volcano science experiment kids love, with a new slime twist.

OUTDOOR SPRING ACTIVITIES

We have plans this year to rebuild and make our backyard Nerf War Battlefield bigger and better! What I love about this activity is how it is teaching my kids life skills, how to be handy and use tools, plus some engineering and physics principles. You can make it as hard or as easy as you wish. Just make sure you have lots of nerf bullets available!

Build a Nerf War Battlefield for a Nerf War birthday party or a summer filled with fun! A brilliant outdoor engineering challenge using upcycled items.

Check out the Nerf video challenge we did using our Nerf War Battlefield. A great way to get kids away from the screen and outdoors! (Note you will not be able to view our video tutorials if you have an adblocker engaged. Please disable it to view our videos. Thanks)

One of my goals is to help my kids learn to be mindful and in the moment. This can be hard in little bodies that are always on the move. One of the ways to foster stillness and connection in the moment is with a senses challenge in nature. Spring is a wonderful time to do this!

One of the things I love about spring and fall is that we can be outside enjoying sunrises and sunsets. Where we live the sunrises and sunsets in the summer happen in the middle of the night with only a few hours of darkness. So spring and fall are the best time to see our amazing skies! This sky science experiment is a great way to answer the kids questions around why the sky is blue and why we have all the colours at sunrise and sunset.

Sky Science is a simple experiment that answers one of childhoods biggest questions - Why is the sky blue and why does the sky change colors at sunset?

Of course, the big thing we do every single year is launch Bottle Rockets the moment the weather it good enough! This has turned into an annual tradition. It doesn’t matter how old the kids get, they LOVE this one!

Check out the video!

SPRING FLOWERS

With spring comes the flowers! Oh how we miss those flowers all winter. First up I want to spend some time exploring this gorgeous Flower Oobleck. It is an incredible sensory experience and so quick and easy to make. Yet, it keeps kids busy having fun and learning about non-Newtonian Fluids for hours. This is a great spring replacement for the traditional sensory bin that kids can do outside in the fresh air.

Using sticks and flowers to explore non-Newtonian fluid properties of oobleck

After that we can make some more gorgeous Circuit Flowers. A stunning STEAM activity.

With the popularity of our Circuit Bugs STEM Activity it was time to come up with something new, something with a little extra art. Introducing Circuit Flowers! Explore chromatography, diffusion, engineering and circuit building with this hands on STEAM activity. Great for mothers' day, spring, girls in STEM, and more!

Ready to spread the flower love and beautify your yard? Check out this Seed Bombs DIY project with a special Launcher Cannon for kids to engineer. This is an incredible STEM activity for Spring or Earth Day, and it is surprisingly easy and fun! It is also very beneficial for the environment and provides vital habitats for pollinators and insects. Which leads to even more learning opportunities.

Seed Bombs and Launcher DIY STEM Activity for Kids

Spring is a great time for some crafting, and what is better than using fresh flowers in your spring crafts? Check out this fun spring craft with a printable. Kids love nature crafts and crafting with items found in nature.

Boy creating a gorgeous flower craft with fresh flowers from the garden.

Looking for a spring sensory activity? Try this sunflower playdough recipe and play idea. It is a fantastic project for preschoolers on a rainy day while still providing some spring fun!

A bright yellow playdough flower is decorated with seeds and craft items. Overlay text says Sunflower Playdough Recipe and STEAM Activity

LEARNING WITH WATER

Spring is a fantastic time for us to repeat our Water Lab experiment. This way we can compare our results and notes from last year. Track any differences and explore why we might get different results in the spring.

Water STEM Lab - An activity for kids exploring what makes water safe with hands on exploration and discovery. A great STEM and safe drinking water lesson.

Then we can dive into one of our many learning projects using water. Water is always an incredible source for learning and exploring.

Another great water based exploration is to play with bubbles. Blowing bubbles is of course always fun, but outside, once you blow bubbles, you can really explore the gorgeous colours in bubbles and learn the science behind bubbles.

How Do Bubbles Get Their Colors? A Bubble Challenge For All Ages And Budgets. A great way to learn some of the science behind this childhood favorite, the science of bubbles!

LEARNING IN THE GARDEN

Next up I want to take an activity we love from the past, Milk Plastic, and we are going to create some garden markers. Now I’m not 100% sure how well they will hold up in the soil, but after over a year, our clear coated toys are still going strong, so we are going to give it a try!

For more advanced students study the golden ratio in your garden! This is a fantastic way to use nature to study math as it naturally occurs all around us. An excellent applied math opportunity.

Planting a garden is a fantastic spring activity to do with the family. Plant everything from flowers to vegetables to berries based on what grows best in your zone. Then in the fall, you can harvest what you grew for a fun picnic.

Next, why not go on a bug hunt or build a bug house? Not into bugs? Why not build a bird feeder and learn about the birds living in your neighbourhood? This simple bird feeder is a great spring project for kids.

Remember the old chia pets that were so big when we were little? Guess what? I found this tutorial from Red Ted Art so we can make our own! She shares both a grass head and grass caterpillar version.

Gardeners know that soil is critical to a successful harvest. So this year we are going to kick start our garden season with this soil experiment that examines the impact of different soils on seeds.

Spring STEM Printables

If you are looking for some fun printable worksheet activities, our Seasons Code Breakers activities are always a hit and help build important vocabulary skills.

Members of the STEAM Powered Family mailing list also get access to incredible printable resources. Join now and unlock 6 spring and Easter themed code breaker printables.

Earth Day

And don’t forget Earth Day is coming up on April 22!

I hope you enjoyed our Spring STEM Activities and have a great time bringing in the warmer weather with some hands on learning!