5 ways to celebrate springtime in the classroom

By now the return to school is a little more familiar and the time to take more confident strides just might be approaching.

Celebrating springtime is not just a tonic, but a revitalising juice and refreshing glass of weekend Pimms, all at the same time, says Victoria Maitland.

Drinking in the spring

‘Spring is here, Spring is here, life is skittles and life is beer,’ says Tom Lehrer, in his hilarious song about poisoning pigeons in the park at this time of year. 

Spring is certainly a time of replenishing. The rush of new energy that comes with a wash of Vitamin D and longer daylight hours is echoed all around us in nature. The landscape wakes up from slumber with the new season and the trees produce colourful displays. 

Spring is a time for new life and looking forwards to the future, but it brings a familiar nostalgia with it too. It serves as a reminder that, once again, we’ve made it through a harsh winter and can now enjoy more carefree times in the sunshine ahead. 

But it’s not a new phenomenon. BBC archives of street interviews taken in 1962 show members of the public agreeing that ‘spring had put a spring in their step’. People described feelings of lightness, freedom, happiness and even an urge to run around London in their pyjamas. 

5 ways to celebrate springtime in your classroom

Many of us will notice a ‘livening up’ that comes with the season, but why not? Particularly this year, it’s time to take that mindfulness to another level and make an effort to drink in the spring in gallons. Why not try some of these?

1. Find ways to work in the outdoors – many lessons can take place outside. Sports, art, science – find ways to get children to connect with nature
2. Be purposeful with your spring cleaning – declutter and get rid of excessive visual displays to create a more peaceful classroom environment
3. Practise mindfulness – take time to come into the present (outside) to really recognise and appreciate the changes of the year but also those things that stay the same and constant in our day to day
4. Think creatively – use the springtime as inspiration to think outside the box – can children draw the sound of the birdsong, describe the colours of the blossoms or paint the textures of the trees?
5. Don’t let it pass you by. Make a point to notice something about nature's springtime changes every day

Victoria Maitland