| |

April Activities For Kindergarten and First Grade

April activities that go perfectly with spring themes! Does that mean spring is finally in the air? Look at the beautiful flower petals floating…um…wait…no those are snowflakes! Are there still snowflakes whizzing by where you live? With the cold temperatures and precipitation in my area I still can’t decide what season I’m in. But I want to pretend that spring is here so please indulge me. Do you know what you are teaching in April? Hey! If it’s already planned out that is wonderful! Teach on! If you are looking for some new ideas OR have no idea what you are doing – Read On!

Living & Nonliving

I like to start April out with a living and nonliving unit. I want them to understand fundamental differences between the two. I make a chart on the white board (or poster board) and we list things that are alive on the lefthand side and things that are not alive on the righthand side. We love to sing so I make sure to start our unit with a song.

living and nonliving song with a link great for April activities

You can also gather pictures of things that are living and nonliving and have them sort them with you as a class into a pocket chart. Then discuss the characteristics of living and nonliving things.

Farm Animals

What better way to teach kids about living things than by teaching a farm animal unit. We sing, work in centers, play games, learn information and write about farm animals. Many of these activities can be done in a whole group setting, small group setting or during centers.

Farm Animals song with a link
Farm Animals Informational Writing with a link
Farm Animals Writing Bundle with a link
Beat the Bunny with a link great for April activities
Farm Animal reports bundle for writing and April activities with a link

Chicks

My favorite time of the year is spring because we raise chicks in our kindergarten class. The week after spring break (when learning about living and nonliving things) we start the process and the eggs have been delivered and I’m prepping my students for these chicks. Some time during this week the chicks are ready to hatch. Before they even hatch we are learning information about the chicks and singing about animals that hatch from eggs. We do chick reports, center activities and a reader’s theater.

Song about animals hatching with a link
Informational Writing about Chickens with a link
Chick bundle with a link
Chickens Writing Bundle with a link

If you want to read about my adventures with raising chicks in the kindergarten classroom (including how I did it), check out this blogpost:

I’m A Mama Hen

Plants

Although you could spend months teaching kids about animals, it’s great to teach them that plants are living things too. During this week we grow plants. I’m wrote a whole blogpost about how I plant flowers with kindergarteners. Check it out here:

Growing Plants In The Classroom

I have a FREE Plant Journal for making observations while the plants are growing. Click the picture below to get this FREE download.

Once again I love to teach them information about plants, sing a plant song and practice our writing skills. We also read lots of plant books. I connect all themes to reading, writing and music.

Song about plants with a link
Informational Writing Plants with a link
Plant writing with a link

Weekly Plan With Themes

Do you need a plan laid out for you with the themes shown in more detail? To download this thematic plan below and see these April reading and writing activities, click the Download button at the bottom. You can also go directly to any of these resources by clicking on each picture.

Enjoy planning out April! I hope you can find some fun April activities to use AND are staying warm. Spring really is just around the corner!

Similar Posts