Fun! Spring activities for children: recreation and hands-on play

Try growing vegetables

Let’s grow vegetables at home! Home gardening with kids!!!

Spring is actually the perfect time to start a home vegetable garden! That’s because there are many kinds of vegetables you can plant in spring, and plenty of them are easy to grow.

Many spring-planted vegetables can be harvested in summer—tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many other delicious crops.

For young children, the experience of planting and caring for something themselves, watching it grow, then harvesting and eating it is a wonderful chance to learn the importance of food and the responsibility of taking care of living things.

It’s a three-for-one activity: fun to tend, tasty to eat, and full of valuable lessons.

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Hane Keisuke

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Make a carp streamer

Making koinobori (carp streamers)

In households with small children, many probably start displaying carp streamers from mid-April in preparation for Children’s Day, right? If you’re going to put them up anyway, why not take the opportunity to make them by hand together with your child? Cut construction paper into the shape of a carp streamer and draw patterns with crayons, or tear up colored paper and glue the pieces on to create your own colorful koi nobori! If your child is old enough to handle a slightly more complex craft, there’s also a way to make a carp streamer using a paper cup as the base and adding decorations.

Make a wonderful carp streamer that suits your child’s age and abilities.

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Hane Keisuke

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BBQ

A total of 30 people for a BBQ, and the kids went wild with a piñata—they had an absolute blast!

When it comes to classic spring recreation, it has to be BBQ! Just hearing the word is like magic that gets you excited.

With today’s camping and outdoor boom, home improvement and big-box stores carry a huge range of BBQ gear, which ramps up the excitement even more.

Enjoying meat in the pleasant outdoor weather somehow makes both the meat and the vegetables taste better than usual, doesn’t it? Let’s all savor this little luxury together!

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Murakami Shinpei

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athletics

[Athletics] Go for it, 4-year-old! A shocking mid-course dropout!? Ocean, who weighs over 100 kilos, falls from a height of 8 meters! [Kokoroman Channel]

When the long, cold winter ends and the weather warms up, you naturally want to head outside and move your body, right? In times like that, how about an outdoor adventure park? It’s sure to get your heart racing with a big adventure that’s different from the playgrounds and neighborhood parks you usually visit.

It really does feel great to get your body moving!

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Murakami Shinpei

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Wordplay with shepherd’s purse (pennycress)

[Playing with Wildflowers] Shepherd’s Purse Sound Play (with audio)

Nazuna, one of the seven herbs of spring, is also known as “penpen-gusa” (literally, penpen grass).

Have you ever wondered why it’s called that? There are various theories, but one says the name comes from the heart-shaped seed pods beneath the flowers, which resemble the plectrum used for playing the shamisen.

If you gently pull the heart-shaped pod downward so it doesn’t break off and then twirl it like a pellet drum, the pods strike and make a soft “pen-pen” sound.

It’s a small sound, but children might be delighted by this unexpected sound from nature! And not just kids—grown-ups, give it a try too!

grass sledding

grass sledding

When spring comes, blue grass starts growing on the banks and mountain slopes.

How about a simple sled ride you can make with just a single piece of cardboard? Fold one end of the cardboard, thread a string through it, tie it, and secure the folded end with duct tape to create a handle.

You can also make holes in the cardboard and thread the string through.

Adjust the length of the string together with your child to find what works best.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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fishing

I tried targeting catfish with the kids I met at the fishing spot. It was like practicing casting.

Even if you’ve never gone fishing before, the appeal is that as long as you have some gear and a river, you can enjoy it nearby.

Be careful with the hooks, and have an adult handle the fish that are caught to keep things safe.

Give it a try with safety in mind—it might turn into a major event that helps them discover the fun of the outdoors!