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Spring is one of my favorite seasons! I love seeing the colorful flowers bloom and the warm, but not hot, temperatures invite lots of time spent outside.
One of my favorite bible verses for spring is found Song of Songs 2: 11-13:
“Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.”
What a beautiful illustration of spring and God’s beauty that surrounds us. It truly is a wonderful sight after the gray, cold days of the winter months.
When it comes to learning and play with toddlers and preschoolers, springtime is the perfect time to study butterflies, bugs and learn about how flowers grow.
There are so many amazing things happening in nature when spring arrives. What better way to engage in conversation about them and build knowledge of all things spring than to read books with your young children!
In this post, I’m going to share with you our favorite picture books for springtime. There is a mix of nonfiction and fiction books shared. This collection of 32 books will teach your little ones about butterflies, different types of bugs and all things flowers and gardening. Plus, they will enjoy reading about the signs of spring.
There are a few books that focus on weather, too! The rainy spring days lead to many conversations about the rain and why it is important. Plus, the change in seasons is the perfect time to talk about how the weather changes where you live.
The Best Books about Bugs and Butterflies
We love raising butterflies during the spring. Reading books about butterflies teaches my toddler and preschooler about the life cycle.
Your little ones will love looking at and learning about all the bugs in the 12 books below. I even learned a thing or two about bugs!
Be sure to check out my post about the hands-on activities we did about bees, bugs and honey. Your preschooler will love cutting out bees and honeycombs as they learn about the letters B and H. The springtime matching game is fun to play with your preschooler, too!
Playing with bug stickers is a fun activity to engage in after reading these books, too! Your preschooler can cover the letter B in bug stickers, cover the outline of shapes, make patterns, and count with them. We LOVE stickers in our house and I know your little ones will, too 😉
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- The Backyard Bug Book for Kids: StoryBook, Insect Facts, and Activities by Lauren Davidson
- My Little Golden Book About Bugs by Bonnie Bader
- I Spy Backyard Bugs: A Fun Guessing Game Picture Book for Kids by Alek Malkovich
- Explore My World Butterflies by Marfe Ferguson Delano
- The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach
The Best Books about Flowers and Planting Gardens
You’ll find colorful illustrations showing what happens from seed to plant in the books shown below. Some of the books describe the activity happening in a garden when spring arrives. Reading these books with your child builds vocabulary and invites conversation about flowers, plants and gardens.
After reading the books below, plant some flowers with your child! Or, set up a garden sensory bin indoors for your little ones to play with.
- The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
- Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner
- Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn
- Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
- Don’t Touch that Flower! by Alice Hemming
Just fill a plastic storage bin with dried black beans (dirt). Add in silk flowers from the Dollar Store, small plastic pots, a set of children’s gardening tools and some butterflies and bugs. Invite your child to plant the flowers. Scooping the black beans into the pots with the gardening shovel and plant the silk flowers into each pot.
Extend the learning and fun with our Gardening Sensory Bin Play & Learn Set. Your preschooler will practice writing lowercase letters while learning gardening words, sequence the steps for planting flowers as they find 8 picture cards hidden in a sensory bin and put pictures of flowers in order by height. This is a wonderful way to extend the learning and play after reading books about flowers and planting gardens 😉
The Best Books about Spring Weather and Change of Seasons
The weather can be very unpredictable and wet during the spring. The books shown below will explain the changes that happen when spring arrives and teach them about the rain. They will love reading about all the things that happen in spring when it rains!
- Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak
- Worm Weather by Jean Taft
- When Spring Comes: An Easter and Springtime Book for Kids by Kevin Henkes
- The Poky Little Puppy’s Special Spring Day by Diane Muldrow
- Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms: A Springtime Book for Kids by Julia Rawlinson
- Spencer Knows Spring by Tiffany Obeng
- In Like A Lion Out Like A Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer
What are some ways to extend the learning and play after reading books about spring?
One of my favorite activities to do with my toddler and preschooler after reading our books about spring is taking a walk around the neighborhood or visiting a local park to do a spring scavenger hunt. They love looking for worms, finding flower buds and seeing the birds.
You can print a copy of my FREE Springtime Scavenger Hunt by clicking the image below. Plus, get access to all my freebies 😊
My preschooler loves engaging in our spring themed learning activities after we read our books about spring. From measuring the height of flowers to matching rhyming chicks, your preschooler will enjoy the hands-on learning in our Spring Literacy & Math Early Learning Activity Pack, too! My toddler enjoys finding the bunnies, bees, butterflies, chicks and birds in a spring-themed sensory bin filled with green crinkle cut paper shred filler for the grass. You can see all of the activities included in this colorful and fun learning resource below 😊
Conclusion
I hope you found some great new titles to read with your toddlers and preschoolers this spring. Reading books about bugs, butterflies, flowers, planting a garden, rainy weather, and seasonal changes welcomes conversation and builds vocabulary. Plus, the books inspire play and learning in so many ways. I can’t wait to hear which book you read next with your toddler and preschooler.
