It’s been a while since I’ve shared a few of my favorite children’s books with you and, now that Spring has bloomed, it’s the perfect time to share my top Spring picture books for kids!
What I love most about Spring is that it has so many layers! There are beautiful changes in plant life, refreshing (sometimes dreary) weather, Earth day, emerging butterflies, etc., plus poetry! I mean there’s just a lot of ground to cover and while we can’t fit it ALL into our lesson plans, certainly a few good books will do the trick.
But don’t worry, because, if you choose to just add a few to your lesson plans, I’ve got some activity ideas to share with you too.
First, let’s start with three of my favorite picture books for Spring along with activity ideas, including FREEBIES! Then, you’ll find a full list of my recommended Spring children’s books.
Farfallina and Marcel is the most precious story of a caterpillar and a gosling whose friendship stands the test of time – even as things (and they) slowly begin to change!
Not only is this a beautiful book about friendship, but it’s a wonderful fictional story that highlights the caterpillar’s journey to a butterfly and a gosling to a goose in an inspiring way.
This is one of my favorite Spring picture books. I love to use it for a lesson on describing characters and the life cycle of a butterfly. We include it in our Rooted in Reading curriculum for first grade and it is always a hit with the students and teachers!
I highly suggest adding this book to your classroom library and, while you’re at it, I have a few FREE butterfly activities that pair perfectly. You can grab those HERE.
Below, I’ve added a video for the directed drawing of a butterfly that you can share with your students!
One of the major highlights of Spring is the beautiful plant life that begins to blossom and become more colorful and lively. It feels refreshing.
The Great Kapok Tree is the PERFECT kid-friendly way to see, hear, and feel it all around us! In the story, a young man is set on chopping down a giant kapok tree in the rainforest, but the animals of the rainforest remind him why the tree is so important.
The book itself is exquisitely illustrated and the way the author uses descriptive wording is perfect for a lesson on sensory language.
You can see how I would use this book in a sensory language mini-lesson and download FREE activities in THIS post. That includes a toucan directed drawing and writing, sensory language posters and activities, and toucan research!
{Like what you see? There’s more! We have an entire week of lesson plans and activities for The Great Kapok Tree plus 3 other units inside our April Rooted in Reading curriculum for 3rd grade. Just head to my TPT storefront to learn more.}
In April, we celebrate Earth Day and it’s such an important time to talk about the preservation of our natural resources and the animals all around us. And with April being poetry month, I just love to whip out nature poems that help us celebrate how important plant life is to our lives.
Old Elm Speaks is one of the best I’ve found! The poems are rich and full of inspirational works that help us realize the tree’s place on Earth…and how much we NEED them.
I can’t recommend this book enough for your poetry reading lessons!
We certainly had to include it in ours and it is now one of our featured Spring picture books for our 2nd grade Rooted in Reading curriculum for April, which features 4 weeks of full lesson plans and activities.
I just can’t get enough of celebrating a new season, especially when it’s as joyful as Spring! Here’s a list of some additional Spring picture books you may love. Ranging from frogs and plants to weather, insects, and bees, there is definitely something here for you!
I’ve linked them all on my Amazon storefront so you can easily scroll through to see which may fit your classroom best.
(Please note: Affiliate links have been used above and below, but I only share books I use and enjoy!)
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
