Spring is coming!

• Clear off garden beds or spaces on the land for planting next year

Have the children clear out dead plants within safety and developmental reason. They can use their hands to pull them out and make piles for compost or disposal with the help of adults.

• Walk around and make a plan for where to plant vegetables and fruits or make any changes to the garden or space for the following year

Soon the seeds will be starting. Walk around and let the children start to talk about what they want to plant and where they want to see it grow. You can talk about companion planting, such as The Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) or how tomatoes grow better beside marigolds.

It’s Springtime!

• Let the children walk around and observe what changes they see in on the ground and in the sky.

• It might be raining, so put on proper clothing and shoes to explore in the raindrops. What colors do you see? Who else likes to play in the rain?

• Make a Spring Nature Mandala

Materials Needed: A piece of chalk; a large, flat space (parking lots or sidewalks work well)

Have a teacher draw a spiral with chalk on a smooth surface, about 4–5 ft. in diameter. Ask the children to go collect anything they can find in nature. Explain that whatever they want to bring back cannot cause harm to plants or animal homes. Rocks, sticks, flowers, leaves, a fallen bird’s nest, pieces of a cracked egg, nuts, seeds, feathers, pinecones, etc. This is also a good time to explain how we can pick a few flowers from a plant we see, but we don’t need to pick all the flowers. As the children return with their treasures, show them how to place the items on the chalk lines.

Over time, you will all see a beautiful, spiral “mandala” appear. Once it’s filled in—when you can’t see any chalk lines—have everyone sit or stand around the Nature Mandala and talk about what it looks like and what everyone contributed.

Take pictures to show parents, because wind or rain will erase the mandala, and that’s okay.

Do you remember the mandala from the winter? How is this one different?

• Food Waste Audit: After lunch, have the children sort their food waste. You may not have the means to recycle or compost yet, but this will help the children understand that we do not “throw anything away.” You can do this once or weekly or every day.

• Compost: You can set up a classroom or school compost. Either reach out to your local waste management or municipality to learn about your options. You can also ask families. There will be people in your community ready to help! Learn more here.

• Vermicompost: Add worms. Not only do red wigglers make extra rich compost, adding worms is giving the children another option to observe an animal in its habitat. You can set up your own system with the help of Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm, or if you want a less DIY approach, we recommend a SubPod + the wealth of information on the website for beginners.