Celebrating Spring Equinox with kids?
Spring Equinox Celebrations with kids and their families. Spring Nature Hunts, Nature Journals, Spring Equinox Printable
Our world is warming up after being at rest over the cool winter months. All of nature senses this and emerges from slumber and bursts into life.
We witness the signs / tohu of spring: dormant fruit trees bud and blossom, flowers bloom, tūī sip from the golden kowhai, manuka blooms invite bees to their nectar as they relish in the suns warmth and begin their busy tasks, seeds sprout, migratory birds return from long journeys to nest and raise chicks, their calls and presence herald springs arrival.
We prepare our gardens, sowing seeds, tending seeding, planting and watering with a vision extending into the summer and autumn months when we pick our harvest.
Te Kōanga / Spring Equinox marks a midway point on earths travels between winter and summer. We are ‘side-on’ to the sun and the temperature is becomes pleasantly mild. As we emerge from winters cold, the days are light for longer, and the day and night are of roughly equal length.
This time of celebration invites us to seed and grow and settle into balance in our own lives.
Spring / Koanga Nature Hunt for Kids ~ Download and Print!
Here are some ideas you may like to do to celebrate with your family during the Spring season / Kōanga and Spring Equinox –
- SPRING WALK
Spend some time outside in nature with your family, either hiking or walking around your neighborhood. Walking each day gives us a sense of well-being, moving our bodies releases feel god chemicals, and it encourages us to notice, connect to, and care for our environment and world. - FEED THE BEES
With warmer spring weather, butterflies and bees, emerge in search of nectar. Consider creating a bee garden or planting new flowers in your garden.
Some favourite flowers to plant for bees include: Borage, bergamot, lavender, dandelion, sunflowers, clover, rosemary, alyssum, calendula. - EDIBLE FLOWERS
Spring is a wonderful opportunity to learn about wild weeds and flowers, some of which are edible and nutritious, and make a beautiful addition to a salad or dessert. Learn alongside your tamariki what is safe to pick and eat, and encourage them to harvest and help out making the salad (known as a fairy salad if you ask my daughter). Another treat is to use flowers to decorate cakes or biscuits. Or keep it simple and decorate a warm scone, or honey pikelet with a beautiful flower or two. - SPRING NATURE HUNT
Spring brings much beauty – new blossoms, blooming flowers, bees, insects, birds – all provide a wonderful, visual opportunity to connect with our seasons. Little children are natural treasure hunters, and a nature hunt brings awareness to their observations. Grab some baskets from the op shop, and our illustrated Spring Nature Hunt and head outdoors with your kids to view this seasons magic. - BE PART OF NATURES SEED CYCLE
Planting seeds or observing blossoms on trees leads the discussion onto life cycles – the Seed grows, becomes a plant or tree, the plant produces a flower, the flower is pollinated and turns into fruit, the fruit contains a seed. And so the natures cycles continue! - PRESS FLOWERS
Pressing flowers is a special learning, encourages us to learn the names of the flowers we pick, their properties if they are medicinal or edible, and to think about our wider world and who else may need these flowers such as birds and bees. Kids anticipate these drying and becoming ‘ready’ and there is delight in checking! We can be creative with our pressed flowers afterward, using in cooking or creating beautiful artworks – one of our favourites is a pressed flower bookmark. - PREPARE A SUMMER GARDEN
Spring is the time to start growing seeds for your Summer garden. Think about one or two additions to your garden that are good for kids to pick and nibble. A quick guide to some tried-and-true favourites include, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cape gooseberries, and climbing beans. Kids can learn to love their veges by picking the tempting fruits again and again, you’ll be surprised what they’ll forage and try! - FLOWER CROWNS AND GIFTS
Celebrate the beauty of spring with homemade flower crowns, weaving fresh flowers into a ring of braided ribbon, raffia, jasmine or ivy.
Or collect a bouquet of flowers and offer this special springtime gift to a friend or family member. - LEARN ABOUT THE SPRING EQUINOX
Here is a Spring Equinox nature journal with information and illustrations to help explain the Spring Equinox for kids, how Earth’s rotation influences our seasons, Spring celebrations around the world, as well as journal pages with prompts to get kids noticing and celebrating Spring.
View Spring Equinox Nature Journal for Kids
Spring Equinox printable nature journal for kids and their families.
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