20 Awesome April Activities for Kids
Every month of the year has interesting topics, exciting celebrations, or annual events that you can use as a basis for activities with your kids. April is a spring month with various celebrations and events, including Easter, Earth Day, International Children’s Book Day, and April Fool’s Day. This month is also associated with new life and flowers growing as the weather becomes warmer. Each is a topic to use for fun or educational activities with your children. So, what are some fun things to do with kids in April? Here are 20 awesome April activities for kids.
20. April Games for Kids: Easter Egg Matching Cards Game
A fun game to play with children with both an April and an Easter theme is a matching Easter eggs card game. It is a game that children of any age, from preschool to teens, can understand and play. There are printable versions of matching games available online, although you might have more fun creating your own version of the game with your children. Cut out enough cards for the game, then create sets of two cards with Easter egg designs.
For example, you could draw two pink eggs with white spots, two yellow eggs with purple bows, two blue eggs with green stripes, two orange eggs with turquoise flowers, and two black and white chequered eggs. When you have created the cards, turn them all face down. The players take turns revealing two cards at a time. If they reveal a matching pair, they keep the cards. If not, they turn the cards back over, and the other players must try to remember the position of the cards to reveal a matching pair on their turn.
19. Bake Chick and Bunny Cookies
Something that many children love is baking in the kitchen and then eating the results of their efforts. It is easy to link baking to April themes, and one example is making chick and bunny cookies. Use your favorite cookie recipe to make the cookies, then decorate using icing and sweet treats. This uses yellow icing for the chicks and pale blue and white icing for the bunnies. Use licorice laces to create whiskers and features for the bunnies and add a beak and eyes to the chicks using pieces of candied peel. It is a great opportunity for your children to show off their creative streak.
18. Easter Activities for Kids: Chocolate Easter Egg Hunt
Edventures with Kids suggests an Easter egg hunt as one of the best April activities for kids. You can create your own in your house or garden or use printable clues that are available online to help make setting up your Easter egg hunt easier. Children love hunting for eggs, especially if they get to keep their finds at the end of the hunt.
17. Create an Orange Bird Feeder
Many children love animals, and inviting wildlife to your garden is a way for them to get close to nature and learn more about the different species. One way to attract birds and other wildlife to your garden is to hang out a bird feeder. You do not need to go out buying expensive materials to create a bird feeder, as you can easily make one from an orange and household items. Natural Beach Living says you can make one using an orange cut in half with the fruit removed, which your children can eat as a healthy snack. Pierce the orange shell with wooden kebab sticks so that they form a cross through the orange. Fasten string to the kebab sticks to make a hanger, then fill the empty orange shell with bird feed before hanging outside.
16. Make Paper or Cardboard Flowers
One of the simplest April-themed craft activities is to make paper or cardboard flowers. Use a green craft pipe cleaner to make the stem, then draw flower designs, petals, and leaves on cardboard. Color them using paint, felt-tipped pens, or coloring crayons. Either add a single flower design to the top of the pipe cleaner or create a layered design of petals and leaves. Alternatively, make ruches of tissue or crepe paper to create a textural flower. Extend this activity by creating a large garden scene with all the flowers your children have made.
15. Create a Wind Chime
There are many craft activities that you can do with your kids in April, and one that will appeal to children of most ages is creating a wind chime. It is an activity you can complete using items you will have around the house or that you add to your recycling bin. Create a top for the chime by crossing two wooden lollipop sticks and gluing them together. Then, create a loop of string and fasten it to the top.
Cut four lengths of string and add a knot to the bottom of each. Pierce a hole through the center of milk bottle lids and thread them onto each of the strings before knotting them into place. Add another knot halfway up the string, and thread on more bottle tops. Knot in place and fasten to the lollipop stick top. Hang your wind chime outside where it will catch the breeze.
14. Musical April Activities: Play or Listen to Guitar Music
Those who love music might find it interesting to know that April is International Guitar Month. It is the perfect excuse to enjoy some guitar music or to play some yourself. If you want to add an educational element to the activity, find out more about the history of a guitar brand or the life of a famous guitarist. If your child is musically talented, they may enjoy the creativity of creating their own guitar piece using April as an inspiration.
13. Create an Earth Day Sensory Bin Word Game
Fun-a-Day suggests creating a sensory bin word game with an Earth Day theme. It is an activity ideally suited to preschool children. Add blue and green food coloring to some dried rice to create the sensory element of the activity, then add to a plastic bucket or small bin. Write out words or print off images that have an Earth Day theme and add them to the bin with the rice. Next, add some plastic letters to the bin and mix everything around a little. The kids can pull out the images and letters to spell out the words that match the pictures.
12. Visit the Library Together
The second week of April is National Library Week, so a trip to the local library is the ideal activity to enjoy during that period. Go and browse through the books, introduce your child to a new author, or take out a book by their favorite author to read at home. Many libraries also host events or exhibitions, so check out what is on before you go.
11. Start an Earth Day Project
One of the best-known events in April is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22 to celebrate the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The aim is to raise awareness of taking care of our planet, so there are many environmental activities to enjoy with your kids. April is the perfect month to start an Earth Day project with your children. You can choose any environmental topic that means something to you to help your children learn about their responsibility to protect the environment in which they live.
10. Get Out in the Garden and Plant Something
April is a month associated with plants, flowers, and new life and is also celebrated as Garden Month. Choose a day when the weather is good, and head out into the garden. Plant some flowers or vegetables that your child can watch growing over the following weeks. It is an ideal opportunity for educational moments, as you can teach your child about the different plant species and how plants grow. If you have chosen to plant vegetables together, then you can use them later to cook something together. Don’t let it hold you back if you do not have a garden, as you can head out to a local public garden or park.
9. Learn About April Fool’s Day and Plan a Prank
April Fool’s Day is an event celebrated in many countries worldwide. Help your child to research the day’s history and read about some of the most famous April Fool’s Day pranks together. Have fun planning your own April Fool’s Day pranks with them so they can play them on another family member.
8. Read a Hans Christian Andersen Story
There are two reasons you should read a Hans Christian Andersen story, and both are linked to April 2, says Kids Activities. First, it is Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, and second, it is International Children’s Book Day. You can also learn a little more about this author as an activity.
7. April Food Activities for Kids: Make Bird’s Nest Cakes
An easy food activity for kids in April is making bird’s nest cakes. Melt chocolate and add to crushed shredded wheat or cornflakes, and then add a couple of spoons of the mix to a bun case. Add some mini chocolate eggs to the top, then put them in the refrigerator to set.
6. Write an April-Themed Story
April 10 is young writer’s day, so you can use this day to get your children doing a creative writing activity. Other days in this month linked to literacy include April 27, which is Tell a Story Day, and April 28, which is poetry reading day. Get them to use April themes to write a poem or a story. Some theme suggestions include gardening, frogs, Easter, playing pranks, and the environment.
5. April Science Activities for Kids: Make Some Tin Can Phones
An April activity that combines play with learning is making tin can phones. Dig out a couple of tin cans with smooth edges from your recycling tub and punch a hole through the base of each with a screwdriver. Help your child thread string or wire through each hole and fasten a knot at each end. If you pull the string tight so there is a person with a tin can at each end, you can use the tin cans to communicate as the sound vibrations travel along the string or wire.
4. Go on a Scavenger Trail
Instead of just heading out for a spring walk, you can make an outdoor trip more interesting, fun, and educational by planning a scavenger hunt for the family, says 123 Homeschool 4 Me. Give younger children a sheet of images for them to look out for and tick off during your trip outdoors. Children who are a little older can read a list of words of the things they need to find and tick off during the hunt. To make this trickier, give clues about the plants, animals, or objects you want them to find, rather than directly listing them.
3. Get Outdoors
The month of April is widely associated with nature, plants, and new life, and one of the best ways to celebrate is to head outdoors. Instead of limiting yourself to your own garden, get out with the kids and explore somewhere different nearby. Go to a state park, riverside area, lake, or local trail.
2. Make Toilet Roll Creepy Crawlies
April is often associated with nature, including insects. If your children enjoy creative crafts, creating creepy crawlies is a great activity. It is an easy craft suitable for children of all ages, and all you will need is cardboard middles out of some toilet rolls, some paints, some craft glue, and some colored craft pipe cleaners. Some ideas include spiders, ladybugs, beetles, caterpillars, and butterflies.
1. One of the Most Awesome April Activities for Kids: Decorate Eggs
According to And Next Comes L, one of the best activities to enjoy in April is decorating eggs. It fits perfectly into any Easter-themed plans you are making for fun activities to enjoy with your children in April. Hard boil some eggs and leave them to cool, then use paints or felt-tipped pens to create designs on the shell. There are also some games you can play once you have finished painting the eggs.
