April showers bring May flowers, right? May is when the weather starts to warm and students are winding down their school year. Fun tasks, crafts, and celebrations will be a great addition to your activity calendar for the month of May. Lots of ideas and activities for kids will be loads of fun, but these 33 fun ideas will help you plan your day and keep your kids busy, as they learn, use motor skills and explore key themes.
1. Q-Tip Daisy Craft
Adorable and super easy, these Q-tip daisies are fun for the month of May. Themed activities, like flowers in May, are a great way to introduce students to content and bring in many forms of instruction and content. This would also be a great addition to any gardening activities.
Learn More: The Pinterested Parent
2. End-of-School Interview
Fun activities, like this end-of-the-year interview, are a lot of fun for the month of May! Include a writing or drawing sample to help document growth throughout the years. These make for great memories later. You can also include a photo from each school year.
Learn More: The Educators' Spin On It
3. Tissue Paper Suncatchers
Beautiful and full of vibrant color, these tissue paper suncatchers are great for creating in class and then using as decoration. As students make these adorable little suncatchers, be prepared to see the biggest smiles as they celebrate the beautiful artwork they create.
Learn More: Kids Craft Room
4. Play Dough Counting Garden
Flowers are a big key theme for the month of May! Bring in some math curriculum with this activity. Children have plenty of time at school each day to have fun and learn. Why not incorporate the two with this cute, little flower-building activity? Use play dough to see a garden of flowers and numbers growing!
Learn More: Fantastic Fun and Learning
5. Hummingbird Craft
Use some recycled materials to create adorable hummingbirds! This is a great follow-up activity for a theme about spring or the planet Earth. This is a fun activity for learning about spring animals. Encourage students to use the entire paper and add some extra things, like a flower or sunshine.
Learn More: The Pinterested Parent
6. Alphabet Garden Hunt
This may be the cutest alphabet hunt on the planet Earth! Use cute cutouts with the letters written on them and hide them around the yard or garden. To adapt this for older students, have them take photos of things that start with each letter. This is a great addition to gardening activities.
Learn More: The Educators' Spin On It
7. Bubble Wrap Flowers
Fun kids' activities, like this bubble wrap flower painting, allow for creativity and colorful creations. Students can create an entire bouquet or cover the entire paper with flowers throughout. Pair this activity with picture books about gardening or the life cycle of a plant or flower or about the things that grow on the planet Earth.
Learn More: The Pinterested Parent
8. Bird Feeders
Save your paper towel rolls and use them as a base for a bird feeder. You can also use this heart idea by creating a template from cardboard. This is a project that is easy and benefits birds on the planet Earth! Give back to our flying friends by covering the cardboard with peanut butter and birdseed.
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9. Tissue Paper Ladybug Craft
This little craft brings the biggest smiles! Tissue paper-covered ladybugs are fairly easy and quick to make. You could make an alternative to this by ripping up construction paper and gluing those pieces to the template. Add some wiggly eyes for an extra special touch.
Learn More: I Heart Crafty Things
10. Dirt Pudding Cups
Snacks are another way to bring out the biggest smiles! These dirt pudding cups are yummy and easy enough that even children can help make them. They won't take long to make, but children will spend plenty of time devouring these yummy treats! These are a great way to end a unit about gardening.
Learn More: Little Cooks Reading Books
11. Mother's Day Flower Craft
May is the time for Mother's Day! Using handprints and footprints, you can make these personalized and unique Mother's Day crafts. Have students put on their biggest smiles and pose for the photo you can add to the center of this adorable craft! Moms will love this!
Learn More: Pinterest
12. Paper Bag Bee Craft
Puppets are a fun craft to make at any time, but these cute little bumblebees are ideal for the month of May! With a paper bag, some construction paper, paper doilies, and wiggly eyes, students can create an adorable puppet. This is a fun kids' activity that will go well with units about insects, the planet Earth, animal groups, or gardening themes.
Learn More: I Heart Crafty Things
13. Popsicle Stick Butterfly Craft
Activity ideas like this one create some independence for students, as they create a multi-step project. Use mini popsicle sticks to form the body of the butterfly and students can decorate the wings however they want. You can use a do-a-dot printable or break out the crayon box to let students get creative on their own.
Learn More: I Heart Crafty Things
14. Do It Yourself Maracas
Making musical instruments is always fun because it is something students can later use. Fill these maracas with beans or paper clips or other small objects. Students can decorate the outside and you will have tons of fun and great music appreciation.
Learn More: Crazy Charizma
15. Beaded Butterfly
A clothespin, a few pipe cleaners, and some colorful beads are all you need for this craft. Easy-to-prepare activity bags would make this project even easier, with all the pieces needed to be sorted and prepared ahead of time. These cute butterflies are one of the cutest little crafts on the planet Earth and also make for good Mother's Day gifts or teacher appreciation gifts.
Learn More: Crafty Morning
16. Handprint Caterpillar
A Montessori-inspired Eric Carle activity, like this one, makes a fun afternoon in May even better. Use construction paper and paint to create a cute, little caterpillar out of tiny handprints. This activity would pair well with nonfiction books about caterpillars or with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Learn More: Fun Hand Print Art Blog
17. Seed Journals
When learning more about the planet Earth, keeping a seed journal can be fun and educational. Charting the growth of your plant and making sketches and observations along the way is a great way for students to see change over time. As the plants grow, so will the students' biggest smiles.
Learn More: The Chirping Moms
18. Magic Rainbow Craft
This simple art activity only needs a paper towel and some markers. Spray the area with a few veils of the mist of water and watch it run! The beautiful rainbow will fade outward and lighten up as it absorbs the water. These are fun for a rainy day or a day in May.
Learn More: The Chirping Moms
19. Patriotic Snack for Memorial Day
Memorial Day falls in May, so plan for plenty of time to learn about the holiday in the United States of America and explore some patriotic crafts, snacks, and activities. These red, white, and blue ice cream cone treats are a big hit for hungry tummy and can include healthy snacks to show some American pride!
Learn More: The Chirping Moms
20. Fingerprint Mother's Day Card
Friendship flower activities, like this one, can be used as trees for Mother's Day as well. This project requires plenty of time because each phase must dry before the next step can occur. This one uses fingerprints and paint. These would also make nice teacher appreciation gifts, as well.
Learn More: Easy Peasy and Fun
21. Photo Flower Craft
Friendship flower activities, like this card, are fun! Use them as friendship cards or for Mother's Day, but be sure to include a photo of the child posed to hold the flower they create out of construction paper. The sweetest, single smile will be the highlight of this project!
Learn More: Easy Peasy and Fun
22. Pipe Cleaner Daffodils
May is definitely a great time for students to learn more about flowers. These are made from fuzzy pipe cleaners. This could be one of many friendship flower activities over the course of a unit. These could be made and exchanged with students in your classroom or other classrooms.
Learn More: Happiness is Homemade
23. Paper Kite
Fair warning, these kites may produce the biggest smiles on the faces of your kids! They can make them from paper, decorate them, and fly them on their own! Students will have fun covering the entire paper kite with drawings and expressions of themselves. They could even paint the paper with watercolors.
Learn More: Happiness is Home Made
24. Rain Cloud Windsock
Fun Montessori-inspired weather activities, like this rain windsock, are fun to do during a unit about weather. Let children explore different ways to make and learn about different types of weather. No matter where you live in the United States, students can experience different types of weather to learn about.
Learn More: Happiness is Home Made
25. String Art Flower
This is a craft that doesn't require a crayon box! You do, however, need a colorful string. This string art activity is a creative way to let children craft. This is a fairly simple activity that requires movement of the string but not much more than that. The end result is quite impressive.
Learn More: The Joy Sharing
26. Handprint Spoon Butterflies
Handprint butterfly puppet crafts are a good idea to use as a gift. It can become a teacher appreciation gift and will carry meaning because it is a handmade and homemade appreciation gift. The entire paper used for the wings can be decorated as your child sees fit!
Learn More: Glued to my Crafts Blog
27. Mother's Day Paper Flower Bouquet
Creating a paper bouquet for Mother's Day is a great way for students to create a homemade gift for mom! They can use colored or textured paper or paint the paper with watercolors or marble painting. They can bind them together to show a cute, little bouquet wrapped with ribbon.
Learn More: The Educators' Spin On It
28. Fingerprint Flower Magnets
Creating fingerprint flower magnets is a fun way to pass the day in the month of May. Create flowers using fingerprints. Students could even paint the paper with watercolors to create beautiful magnets to give as gifts, use at home, or give as teacher appreciation gifts.
Learn More: Crazy Little Projects
29. Paper Straw Tulips
Be kind to planet Earth and buy some paper straws! You can then use them to make these adorable little flower crafts. Add this to your list when learning about planet Earth and let students make this simple and easy tulip craft. Students can gather them together to create a bouquet.
Learn More: Crazy Little Projects
30. Stained Glass Butterfly
When rounding out a unit about spring, you can include this butterfly suncatcher. Colorful tissue paper makes an adorable butterfly that can add some vibrant cheer to your house or classroom. This is a great way to explore the planet Earth and its insects and other creatures that roam the planet.
Learn More: Crazy Little Projects
31. Egg Drop Challenge
Hosting an egg drop challenge can be a fun way to get students to use critical thinking skills and engage in a fun STEM activity. Students can use paper towel rolls and other household items to create a device to use in an egg drop project.
Learn More: Buggy and Buddy
32. Yarn Wrapped Tulips
Yarn-wrapped tulips are fun and easy to make. These can be great to give as homemade gifts from children and will inspire the biggest smiles from grandparents or anyone else who receives one of these beautiful gifts.
Learn More: School Time Snippets
33. Shapes Rainbow Suncatcher
A beautiful alternative to painting a paper with watercolors, this rainbow is a little different! You can build this one into a beautiful suncatcher by using colored shapes. hanging these up and observing them later is a great way to see the biggest smiles from the artists who make them!
Learn More: The Joy Sharing
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