Spring has sprung! Goodbye winter, hello spring. Goodbye cold weather, hello warm weather. Goodbye dark nights and hello to the sun setting later. What better way to celebrate the new spring season than with a big compilation of spring picture books to add to your lesson plans? I am going to take this list of spring books even further though and give you one to two writing prompts to use with each book!
So, you can read any of these favorite books to your students and then assign them a writing prompt to write to! These are perfect for first graders and second graders so add them to your spring lesson plans for writing! Or, if you are just looking for a great read-aloud, keep reading!
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1. Ribbit by Rodrigo Folgueira
In this book, young readers will love the pig. A group of frogs are sitting in a pond, minding their own business, when all of a sudden they hear a pig say “ribbit!” The frogs do not know what to do. They do not understand why the pig made their sound! Soon, the pig gets the attention of a bunch of other animals and eventually they all realize the pig just wants a friend.
Writing Prompt: What would you do if you were at a farm and were watching the frogs and all of a sudden, a pig walked up and said, “RIBBIT!”?
2. The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
The beautiful illustrations are my favorite part of any book by Eric Carle. In The Tiny Seed, we learn about the life cycle of a flower through the adventures of a tiny seed. We learn how the seeds are blown through the seasons and not all seeds end up in the same place.
Writing Prompt: Write about the life cycle of a flower.
3. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
I read Miss Rumphius every year I taught for many different reading comprehension skills. I love the colorful illustrations. It is about Alice Rumphius who wanted to make the world a more beautiful place. She does so by planting lupines. They bloom in blue, purple, and white and make the world more beautiful.
Writing Prompt: What would you do to make the world more beautiful?
4. Dandy by Ame Dyckman
Dandy is a cute story about a daddy lion who finds a single weed in his lawn. He is simply appalled and taken aback by this single weed. However, his daughter Sweetie falls in love with this flower and even names it Charlotte. Daddy tries to get rid of the weed throughout the book to save face with his friends, but Sweetie loves this dandelion.
Writing Prompt: Would you want to mow the weed down like the dad or take care of it like Sweetie?
5. The Digger And The Flower by Joseph Kuefler
An excavator named Digger is working on a project and comes across a small flower in the middle of all the rubble. It clearly is out of place. He becomes very protective of the flower and the construction continues around them.
Writing Prompt: How would you take care of a flower in the middle of a construction site?
6. Spring Stinks by Ryan T. Higgins
We all know the grumpy bear, Bruce! Ruth tries to share the joys of springtime, but Bruce finds the smells very stinky.
Writing Prompt: What are your favorite spring smells?
7. Waiting by Kevin Henkes
Waiting is about five animals waiting for something to happen. Owl is waiting for the moon. Pig is waiting for rain. Bear is waiting for wind. Puppy is waiting for snow. Rabbit is not waiting for anything, but likes to look out the window. They see many different things, like fireworks, rainbows, thunderstorms, etc. This book is not particularly a spring book, but is a great book for showing how we wait all year for the beginning of spring to see everything blossom, bloom, and turn green again.
Writing Prompt: What is something you are waiting for? Are you patiently waiting?
8. Don’t Touch That Flower by Alice Hemming
This is the sequel to a favorite, The Leaf Thief! Squirrel is excited spring has sprung. He becomes protective of a flower that bloomed, but Bird shows him how to let the flowers grow.
Writing Prompt: How do you take care of a plant? Write a how-to story on how to take care of a plant.
9. Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson
In this cute story, Rabbit collects carrots. In fact, he has too many carrots and they overtake his house. So, he tries moving in with friends, but causes even more trouble! With each friend he tries to live with, he displaces them from their home as well. Eventually, Rabbit learns to share his carrots.
Writing Prompt: What is something you collect? Do you think you will ever have so many that you will have to move?
10. Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak
In this book, the young boy and his dog notice how the season changes from winter to spring. The animals begin to come out of their dens, everything is growing and blooming again. Together they say goodbye to winter and hello to spring.
Writing Prompt: What will you be happy to say goodbye to in the winter? What are you happy to say hello to in the spring?
11. When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes
I like how the book starts with the line, “Before Spring comes, the trees look like black sticks against the sky.” I just took a walk outside with my dog and it is currently very cold and in the middle of winter. The trees very much look like black sticks. The book shares what we see in the winter and if we wait, what we will see in the spring.
Writing Prompt: What do you look forward to when spring comes?
12. Up In The Garden And Down In The Dirt by Kate Messner
This is a great story that explains what is happening in the ground. The young girl and her grandmother are planning their garden. While planning, she is teaching the granddaughter what is happening in the dirt. This cute story reminds me of gardening with my own kids every spring.
Writing Prompt: Write a story about a worm in the dirt.
13. The Good Egg by Jory John
Part of The Food Group series, The Good Egg is about the good egg! He is a verrrrrry good egg. However, it is really hard to be good when everyone else is so rotten! The good egg begins to crack from all the pressure.
Writing Prompt: What are ways you are a good egg?
14. The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
This book is so sweet! In the beginning, it is in such a dreary place. People stay inside! They never go outside! There are no gardens or trees or greenery. However, there is a boy who loves going outside. Even when it’s wet weather, you will find the young boy, Liam. One day, he went exploring and found a small, lonely patch of wildflowers and plants. Once he looked closer, he realized the flower garden was dying. So, Liam got to work and began to care for the plants. Time passes and the garden spreads throughout the gray, dreary city.
Writing Prompt: What would you do to add some color to this gray, dreary town?
Writing Prompt: Would you like to live in this place and stay indoors all the time? Would you rather be indoors or outdoors and why?
15. Grumpy Monkey: Spring Fever by Suzanne Lang
Jim is running around the jungle, laughing and shouting and having a great time. The other animals are worried because this is not the Jim that they know. Norman suggests that Jim has a case of spring fever from the first signs of spring. So, Jim is on the hunt for the cure. The animals give suggestions like take a breath, sniff lavender, take a nap. This hilarious book ends with the whole jungle having a silly celebration of spring.
Writing Prompt: What do you think the cure is for spring fever?
16. The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach
This fun story is about a caterpillar who is very impatient when going through the process of metamorphosis into a butterfly. There is a lot of fun dialogue in this story. The speech bubbles are bright and really catch the eye of the reader. Plus, this is a really fun way to teach about the life cycle of a butterfly.
Writing Prompt: What is something you worry about?
Writing Prompt: Write about the life cycle of a butterfly.
17. There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick by Lucille Colandro
We cannot let a season go by and not read a “There Was An Old Lady” book. This is another silly story of the old lady and this time she swallows a baby chick and then straw, an egg, candy, a basket, and more to cover up the chick. Then, she sees the Easter Bunny in the end!
Writing Prompt: What are some other “spring things” the old lady could eat?
18. Make Way For Butterfly by Ross Burach
One of the book companions to The Very Impatient Caterpillar, this book teaches about butterflies being pollinators. In the story, the butterfly learns that she is a pollinator and is very important! Students will learn about how butterflies help spread pollen from flower to flower.
Writing Prompt: Make up a story of a butterfly who is flying from flower to flower to pollinate. What does she see? What does she smell?
Writing Prompt: Write about why butterflies are important.
19. Seed To Plant (National Geographic Kids) by Kristin Bard Rattini
In this nonfiction text, students will learn about how plants grow. They will learn about seed pollination, plant growth, and what plants need to grow. Your still will enjoy the photographs in this text!
Writing Prompt: Write what you learned about how plants grow.
20. Hello Spring! by Shelley Rotner
This simple book is great for young children to identify what happens in the spring. There are bright photographs that show us the transition from winter weather to spring weather.
Writing Prompt: What is the difference between winter and spring?
21. And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano
The beginning of this story reminds me of the weather right now as I write this… It has been a snow-filled winter and everything is very… brown. In this story, a young boy and his dog are over the brown. So, they plant a garden and wait for the rain to come and show the first sign of spring.
Writing Prompt: If you could plant a garden, what would you plant?
Writing Prompt: Let’s say there is a make believe garden. You can plant any type of food you want. What are you going to plant?
22. Tadpole To Frog (National Geographic Kids) by Shira Evans
Spring is the perfect time to learn about life cycles of different animals. This reader shows how animals grow and change, like how a tadpole transforms into a frog, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and a nymph becomes a dragonfly. Your students will love the vibrant photographs.
Writing Prompt: Write about the life cycle of a frog.
What is your favorite spring book? Spring is the signal of new beginnings and any of these spring books are the perfect read-aloud to teach your students about spring. These writing prompts are great for independent work after reading the different spring books, whether you are focusing on personal narratives, opinion writing, or nonfiction writing. Comment below and let me know which spring read alouds are your favorite!
Related Blog Posts:
Check out our spring-themed writing prompts! There are 46 prompts included for how to stories, opinion writing, friendly letters, narratives, and lists!
