With spring in full swing there are so many fun preschool themes to do with preschoolers in the month of March. This month we’re building on some of the early spring activities we did during April, and we’re learing more about living things around us. Here you’ll find a wide variety of engaging April preschool activities. There is also a week of Easter fun and learning, built into this month. Since Easter does not always fall in April you may want to switch out its timing as is needed for the current year. Either way there’s an idea for each weekday during the month, and a few bonus ideas along the way!
GET STARTED WITH 5 FREE SPRING PRINTABLES
The free printable April kids’ activity calendar is full of fun things to do with kids at home or in the classroom. Use it yourself, or send a copy to parents so they have a little inspiration for hands-on fun and learning.
Read over the brief descriptions of the April activities below. Then grab your own free printable April activity calendar, and you’ll have a full month of activity ideas at your fingertips. The free resource includes links to each post so you can click through online for more information, and you can also print it out to use as a quick reference.
We’re also always creating new activity ideas, and I know you want to stay up to date on those was well. In addition to an introduction to the activities originally included in the free printable calendar, I also add new activities we create related to each theme so you’ll have more options to choose from. Those are listed below each week’s original activity suggestions but are not reflected in the free printable calendar.
For some themes we have full theme planning guides and printable lesson plans. If those are available for a particular theme, there are also links to those resources included with the related weekly theme.
April Preschool Activity Themes
For our April preschool activities we’re exploring the following topics:
Week 1: Insects
Week 2: Seeds
Week 3: Easter (Swap out with another week during years when Easter is not in April)
Week 4: Trees
Week 5: Butterflies
Note: The free printable does not include dates. Simply pick and choose which theme you want to do for each week in April, and change the order as necessary.
Week 1: Insects
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
- GO ON A BUG HUNT: 🐞🔎Head outdoors to look for bugs. Spend some time lifting rocks, digging in the dirt, looking on the bottom of plant leaves and more to see what kinds of bugs you can find.
- MAKE A BUG SNACK: 🍽Take a look in your pantry and see what you can use to do some snack art. Set out items like raisins, pretzel sticks, matchstick carrots, grapes cut in half and more and let your kid have some fun creating real or make believe bugs before eating them.
- MOVE LIKE A BUG: Brainstorm a list of insects and the ways they move (talk about verbs, action words, as you do). Call out a bug name and let your kids have fun moving like that bug.
Insect Theme Activities from the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Ladybug Small World – The small world inspires a lot of pretend play and helps kids retell main facts about ladybugs and the ladybug life cycle.
Ladybug Math – I love an activity that can be easily switched up to meet the needs of different kids. This ladybug math game can be adapted for toddlers, preschoolers, and children in early elementary school. It incorporates scooping, pouring, sensory play, and math
Bug Play Dough Invitation – This bug play dough invitation was inspired by my kids’ love of all things creepy crawly. Gather some play dough, mini bug toys, and some loose parts. Then great ready for an afternoon of creating and story telling
Big Bug Art – We love collaborative art projects, and this one is perfect for a bug theme. Here we use some of our favorite stamping methods and a few added details to create a BIG bug art collage. This is terrific to do as a collaborative activity with multiple kids. Everyone can add their own unique touch to the final artwork
Ladybug Art Invitation – Open-ended invitations to create a wonderful way to inspire creative thinking. I used this easy peasy setup during our ladybug theme.
Additional Resources
Insect Theme Lesson Plans
Get a full week of insect theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Insect theme lesson plans also available for home preschool.
Week 2: Seeds
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
- SEED HUNT NATURE WALK: Go on a nature walk and see if you can spot different seeds in a nature…on plants, on the ground, in trees, etc.
- SEED AND PLANT MATCHING: Head to a local garden center for a mini field trip. Find some seed packets and read a little about the plants on the packet. Then see if you can find the matching adult plant in the garden center somewhere. Choose some seed packets to buy and investigate more.
- SET UP AN EASY SEEDS SENSORY BIN: Grab small manipulatives like pom poms or gems to use as seeds. Place them in a bin with your sensory filler of choice. Black beans would work well for this one! Add in some garden scoops and mini pots so kids can “plant” their seeds.
Seed Theme Activities from the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Plant Seeds – You can’t learn about seeds without planting some. We treat any gardening as an experiment, so I’d pick a few different seeds, put them in some soil and watch to see what happens.
Sort Seeds – The wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes of seeds makes them PERFECT for sorting!
Investigate and Compare Seeds – In this activity kids examine seeds to look for similarities and differences.
Find Foods with Seeds – For this investigation we ask the question, “Which foods have seeds?” Then we explore different foods in our pantry and fridge to see which ones have seeds in them, on them, and which ones ARE seeds.
Seed Art Collage – Create the letter S with seeds, or come up with your own unique seed art mosaic.
Additional Resources
Seed Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of seed theme lesson plans and activity ideas.
Seed theme lesson plans also available for home preschool.
Week 3: Easter
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
- AN EGG HUNT: Grab some eggs. Hide them. Let kids find them…endless fun! Try it indoors, outside, or both!
- PLASTIC EGG WATER PLAY: Add those plastic eggs to the sink, tub, or a plastic bin. Fill it with water, and let the kids play!
- PLAY DOUGH and PLASTIC EGGS: Set out your eggs with play dough (and maybe some small toy figures). My kids love to roll out the dough and stamp designs in them with the eggs. They’ll also create little creatures of their own to hide inside the eggs and do their own egg reveals with each other. See what creative ideas your kids come up with!
Easter Activities from the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Crystal Easter Eggs – Make an egg shaped crystal for Easter. It’s requires a tiny bit of patience (the hardest part, I know!), but the end result is beautiful and it’s a great science investigation
Jumping Jelly Bean Painting – Get kids moving as you create process art in this quick prep activity.
Roll and Color Easter Math – Use decorative Easter eggs to set up our roll and color game set and practice recognizing number words.
Jelly Bean Science – See how jelly beans react to different liquids in this simple science experiment.
Bunny Hop ABC Game – Wrap up Easter week with a bunny hop! We set ours up to practice the alphabet but you can easily switch out the letters with shapes, numbers or even sight words depending on the current skills you are working on with your little ones.
Additional Resources
Easter Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get a full week of Easter lesson plans and activity ideas.
Week 4: Trees
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
- INVESTIGATE A TREE: Head outside with writing materials. Have kids find a tree (or maybe a few) to take time and examine closely. Note the texture, the different parts, the size. Draw and label what you see.
- LEARN ABOUT TREES IN YOUR AREA: Take some time to research and find out the names of the most common trees in your area. Record the names and what they look like in a science journal. Then as you are out and about see how many of each tree you can find.
- USE TREE PARTS FOR PAINTING: Collect parts of trees that have fallen to the ground…small twigs, chunks of bark, leaves, pine needles, etc. Set them out with a large piece of paper and paint. Invite kids to see what kind of markings and designs they can make with the items.
Tree Activities from the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Spring Tree Math – This spring tree math game is perfect for preschool and kindergarten. Along the way kids can practice counting, adding, or subtracting.
Healthy Tree Snack – Use grapes and different kinds of pretzels to build our own trees.
Fruit Tree Play Dough Invitation – Create your own fruit trees with this fun play dough invitation.
Tree Art Project – Use creative painting techniques to make gorgeous sprint tree art.
T is for Trees Craft – Exercise those fine motor muscles as you make a T is for trees letter craft.
Additional Resources
Tree Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get the tree theme preschool lesson plans.
Tree theme lesson plans also available for home preschool.
Week 5: Butterflies
LOW-PREP IDEAS…
- MAKE A BUTTERFLY SNACK: One day for snack this week cut up fruits and vegetables into shapes and invite kids to make caterpillars or butterflies. Matchstick carrots and celery work great for the body. Strawberries, orange segments, peach or plum slices, and raisins are all helpful too!
- ACT OUT THE LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY: Have kids crawl like a caterpillar, gobble up food, form a chrysalis and then emerge into a butterfly and flutter around the room
- GO ON A BUTTERFLY HUNT: Head outdoors to see if you can spot any butterflies. If there’s time, stop by a local flower garden, too. G
Butterfly Activities from the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Caterpillar Egg Counting Mats – Create caterpillar egg counting mats to practice number recognition, counting, and fine motor skills as we learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.
Caterpillar Color Matching – This color matching activity is a tactile way to combine color recognition with fine motor practice as children will identify, sort, and use their fingers as pincers to push the colorful beads into the play dough caterpillar.
Butterfly Garden Play Dough – Gather play dough, small butterfly toys, and loose parts and you have everything you need to build your own play dough butterfly garden!
Spring Flower Butterfly Craft – Flower petals can be used for so many learning activities and crafts. Here we use them to create a beautiful butterfly craft.
Fluttering Butterfly Craft – Turn basic craft supplies into fluttering butterflies. Wear them as a rings, or use them as puppets for pretend play.
Butterfly Theme Preschool Lesson Plans
Get the butterfly theme preschool lesson plans.
Butterfly theme lesson plans also available for home preschool.
Get the Free Printable April Activity Calendar
Note: Updated version is slightly different from the one pictured here. It includes five weeks for April and does not have dates listed so that it can be used again and again from year to year.
This free printable is available to members of Fantastic Fun and Learning’s free email community. If you’re already a member, enter your information to get the printable sent to your email inbox.
Not a member? No worries! Enter your information in the form below to join us. You’ll get the printable sent to your inbox as a welcome gift.
Please note – Some email providers will place these emails in your spam or promotions folders. Be sure to check there if you do not see the email. Also many school districts have pop-up blockers enabled or very strict firewalls in place. If you’re on a school computer and can’t see the box that pops up asking for your email and name, this might be the case for your district. Using a non-school computer should solve that problem.
