This week’s theme:
A Spring Adventure
This week’s colouring in sheet:
Download and print this week’s colouring sheet here.
Fact of the week:
This year, the start of Spring is on 20th March 2021.
Activities for the week…
Activity 1
William Blake wrote ‘Songs of Innocence’ in 1789; several of the poems from this collection were written to welcome the Spring.
Read the poem Spring by William Blake or ask someone to read it out to you. Can you make some actions and sounds to go with the different lines?
The poem mentions ‘bird’s delight’, ‘nightingales’, ‘larks’ and a ‘cock crowing’. Open a window, or an outside door and quietly listen to the birds that you can hear. Count how many different birds you hear. Can you identify any of the birdsong, try watching this video.
The poem mentions ‘Little Lamb Here I am’; practice calling out to let people know where you are – try Baaing and Bleating like the sheep heard here.
In the poem, the author can feel the soft wool of the sheep – what’s the softest thing you can find? Can you find anything made of wool?
Activity 2
Read the Spring poem ‘Ecchoing Green’ by William Blake or ask someone to read it out to you. Can you make some actions and sounds to go with the different words in bold?
The poem says ‘The sun does arise, And make happy the skies’; create your own ‘Sunrise’ artwork in the ‘pop art’ style of Roy Lichtenstein, using dots and bright colours, and cotton wool for clouds. Or, print out a version to colour in here.
The poem says ‘The merry bells ring To welcome the Spring’ – make some bell sounds of your own by tinkling a felt tip pen inside the sides of a mug – create a bell orchestra with different sized cups making different pitches! Or, listen to ‘Ring My Bell’, have a dance and ding metal cutlery together in time with the song.
Both poems mention the birds of Spring. Watch live video streams of birds feeding here, here, and here. Watch a live stream of goats, lambs and sheep here. Can you move like any of the creatures you’ve seen?
Activity 3
Daffodils announce the beginning of the spring and the waking of nature.
Read Wordsworth’s poem about Daffodils. In the poem he describes that Daffodils move by ‘Fluttering and dancing in the breeze’ and ‘Tossing their heads in sprightly dance’ and ‘They stretched in never-ending line’. Dance like a daffodil to this very yellow song while fluttering your arms, tossing your head, and stretching your limbs as far as you can.
Activity 4
Seeing spring flowers blooming is often one of the first signs of spring – from snowdrops to daffodils, tulips to crocus. Act out the journey of blooming – from a cold and freezing winter, to the weather getting warmer meaning you can break through the soil, start growing your leaves, your stalk will reach higher to the sun, you will flower and bloom and dance your petals around!
Draw different shaped flowers and petal and make a springtime flower show.
Activity 5
Try some Spring yoga moves such as flower pose, tree pose, or butterfly pose. If these are tricky, try some simple chair yoga and when you stretch your arms imagine you’re growing and blooming like a flower. Try stretching whilst enjoying this seasonal song.
Activity 6
A field full of thousands of Daffodils looks so beautiful, like a huge blanket of yellow, see here. Find as many yellow items as you can in your house to make a table top ‘daffodil field’.
Activity 7
Hanami is the Japanese tradition of celebrating blossom as the first sign of spring.
In Japan as the trees become alive with the color of cherry blossom (which they call ‘Sakura’) the local people all head to their closest park with food and drinks such as tea, they find a perfect spot for sitting down and enjoy a long picnic under the blossom trees. This is called ‘hanami’. Strawberries are the seasonal spring fruit in Japan, making them a popular hanami dessert. Other fruits like oranges and kiwi fruit are also popular in Japan. Once the sun goes down everybody is in for a cherry blossom viewing treat as Sakura are often illuminated with hanging lanterns.
Put down a blanket in your house or garden and have a picnic for your lunch! Draw strawberries, oranges or kiwi! Watch this video all about Hanami! At 2:30 practice pronouncing the Japanese words for ‘cherry blossom, full bloom, cherry blossom viewing, spring, pink, park, picnic, and flower. Try making this lantern too!
Blossom has been nicknamed ‘Natures confetti’ – cut out paper petal shapes to throw into the air like confetti. See how many you can catch in a hat, bowl or net. Repeat until you’re a pro catcher! You could also try making some blossom art work using objects found in your recycling, like this!
Activity 8
Across the world spring is seen as a time for new beginnings, happiness and growth. Many countries have their own unique spring traditions and celebrations.
An egg dance is a traditional Easter game in which eggs are laid on the ground and the goal is to dance among them damaging as few as possible. Try this game, but instead of eggs, try dancing to this whilst not stepping on rolled up paired socks scattered on the floor.
Activity 9
Cimburijada, which translates to “Festival of Scrambled Eggs,” celebrates the first day of spring in the Bosnian town of Zenica. At the crack of dawn, people gather by the banks of the Bosna river, where a communal meal of scrambled eggs is prepared. Try eating scrambled eggs for lunch, or thinking about your favourite way to cook eggs, or your favourite recipes with eggs in – draw these out!
Decorate some paper or cardboard egg shapes (or print out eggs for colouring in here), cut them out and then cut the egg shapes into large solid pieces. ‘Scramble’ the pieces up into a jigsaw for you to solve! The more eggs you work on at once, the trickier it will be to solve the puzzle!
Activity 10
In Mexico, people gather at the enormous Teotihuacán Pyramid to celebrate the spring equinox. People use the morning to climb the 360 steps to the top of the Pyramid. By raising their arms towards the sky and basking in the sun’s warmth, they “soak up” energy for the year. Try counting your footsteps as you dance to your favourite music, can you get anything close to 360 footsteps? Try move number 1 and 2 of the Sun Salutation yoga poses or try the seated Sun Salutations here. You could do them to this relaxing Mexican music.
Activity 11
Ladybirds start to appear in Spring.
Make your own paper ladybirds like these here or twirling ladybirds like these here.
Try some of the forward and backwards ‘Little Lady Bug’ line dancing steps. Or, come up with your own Ladybird inspired dance moves along with the country music.
Why not take a photo of any of the activities you’ve tried this week and share it with us? You can share it on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!