12 Apr It’s Spring! Fun Activities For The Whole Family
In many places across the country, you can see and smell the wonderful evidence of the coming spring. Green shoots are popping up through long-buried garden beds. Trees are budding with new leaves. Winter coats are coming off and spring jackets are coming out of storage closets. It’s that time of year again, the one everyone looks forward to – a time of renewal and bursts of energy, of outdoor games and backyard barbecues.
In this post, we offer some ideas on DIY springtime projects you can do with the whole family. Some take an hour, some a day or two, but all are fun, inexpensive activities that will have everyone enjoying some family time, both indoors and outside
1. Paint flower pots.
Do you have old clay pots in the garage or basement sitting unused? If so, get them out, put them on the children’s crafts table and let your kids unleash their watercolors in any pattern they want. If you don’t have any on hand, make a quick trip to the hardware or garden store and pick up a few. Letting your child paint these pots is a great way to keep them occupied on a rainy spring afternoon.
2. Build a toy box or bookcase.
You can buy supplies for this project at a local hardware and lumber store, or order what you need online. There are plenty of websites that carry simple, step by step instructions for building a bookcase, for example. Or buy baskets or containers and create a structure that can hold toys, Legos, stuffed animals, and anything else your child tends to leave on the floor. It’s a great way to teach problem-solving skills, including how to read instructions and prepare an area with all the tools they’ll need to put the item together – with your help, of course.
3. Start a small garden or assemble a terrarium.
Spring is about all things green and carving out a small area in the backyard for a few plants, flowers, or vegetables is an excellent project for children. Not only does it require some planning and research (how far apart should the tomato plants be, for example) it also must be tended all spring and summer. That teaches responsibility. If you don’t have room for a small garden, check out our recent post on building a terrarium, and go green on a smaller scale.
4. Help your teen redecorate their bedroom.
Teens change constantly even over six months, and their private space can reflect that with a quick update. Let them choose a new paint color, get rid of an old dresser if it no longer suits their taste, and perhaps even buy them a new desk. You don’t need to go overboard, but any change that reflects who your teen is this spring will be welcome. No doubt they will want to change it again next spring!
5. Make friendship tees.
This is a fun project for young children. Buy a few white tees, get out the paint and choose a surface you can spread the shirts on. Be sure to place something between the t-shirt layers, so the paint doesn’t bleed through. Let your child dip their hand into a bowl of paint, then lay it on the t-shirt. Besides the handprint, let them write (or print) the name of a friend or sibling. Have them do this in a variety of colors all over the tee’s front. Let them give one to a good friend as a springtime symbol of their bond.
6. Paint and decorate Easter eggs.
If you celebrate Easter, decorating eggs in lots of pastels – pink, green, blue, and yellow – is a fun afternoon project. (Lots of websites have detailed instructions on how to do this, including the ones at the end of this post). Then when Easter arrives, parents can hide the eggs around the house and make a game of who can find them the fastest. Award prizes (to everyone, of course!) for quickness, the number of eggs found, and other categories that make the hunt fun for all.
7. Help a neighbor with a project.
Winter is hard on almost every property, and not every family has the money and energy to spruce up their home. If your neighbor needs their front porch painted, or a fence, or a gate, come together as a family and offer to spend a day doing it. Their gratitude will be enormous, and you’ll all feel good about watching out for – and helping – neighbors who may not have as many resources as you do.
8. Build or buy a bird feeder.
Is there any surer sign of spring than the sound of birds chirping? To make your backyard more pollinator-friendly, install a bird feeder (or build one with your child) and fill it with sunflower seeds or suet, then watch the birds come swooping in. Feeding the birds is fun in winter, too, but in spring you’ll see plenty of species come through while migrating. It’s educational, enjoyable, and entertaining – and watching the birds means children are entertained without being on screens.
When spring arrives, everyone feels better because the weather is mild and life just gets easier. There are plenty of projects to do together as a family, or others that a child can do solo in their playroom. No matter what you decide to do in the coming weeks, make it fun for all and relish the time together – these are the activities that warm memories are made of!
Below are links to some websites with more excellent ideas and instructions for DIY springtime projects:
www.thehappyhomelife.com/13-diy-spring-crafts-entire-family
www.familyhandyman.com/list/13-parent-child-diy-projects-theyll-love
www.thesprucecrafts.com/spring-crafts-4162978