Celebrate Spring With Life Cycles of Plants and Animals

Spring is a wonderful time for your students to experience the life cycles of plants and animals. I remember our first grade teachers hatching chicks. We would go into the classrooms early in the morning to see if they had begun to hatch. It was so exciting to watch the students observe the miracle of life. In this post, you will learn different ways to celebrate spring with the life cycles of plants and animals.

Learning about life cycles in the springtime helps students gain an appreciation of nature and have an opportunity to dive deeper into science. All animals and plants go through life cycles. They begin as a seed or egg and then go through stages until they can reproduce. Students can make comparisons to understand the likes and differences between the stages of plants and animals.

Students can actually observe the development of the animal or plant. Teachers can plant gardens or grow plants in cups. Students can observe the life cycle of a butterfly from the cocoon to the adult. There are also wonderful videos you can share with your students.

Students can learn the parts of the plant or animal and sequence the stages of the life cycle with hands-on activities. In the activity below, students cut out the stages and glue them in the correct order.

Schedule field trips to botanical gardens or wildflower centers to learn about plants and animals. Students can learn the importance of our ecosystem and the protection of our butterflies and bees. Bring in experts to talk to students about their fields focusing on conservation and preservation.

There are so many books to teach students about life cycles. It's also the perfect time to teach informational text/nonfiction. Keep books out on a table during the unit so students have easy access.

For deeper learning, you can develop project based learning units from basic life cycle activities. Students do more research, work in collaborative groups, solve real world problems, and integrate cross-curricular activities.

This Digital Escape Room Bundle includes activities about the life cycles of plants, frogs, ladybugs, chickens, pumpkins, and monarch butterflies.

Try this FREE Color by Code Activity - multiplication of decimals by powers of 10.