Fun Chinese Poems, Songs, and Activities for Kids This Spring!
Spring is a season of renewal, growth, and fresh beginnings! What better way to celebrate the season with your Chinese learners than through music, poetry, and hands-on activities ?
Here are some spring themed songs, poems and kid craft ideas that will get your students excited about the season of spring.
1. Classic Chinese Spring Poem: 春晓 (Spring Dawn)
One of the most well-known Chinese poems about spring is 《春晓》 (Chūn xiǎo) by 孟浩然 (Mèng Hàorán). This beautiful Tang Dynasty poem captures the feeling of waking up to the sounds of birds chirping and realizing that spring rain has fallen overnight.
Click here to download the poem in Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Activity Ideas:
Ask students to visualize and illustrate the poem.
Teach students Chinese rhyming by focusing on the last word of each line—晓 (xiǎo), 鸟 (niǎo), 少 (shǎo). These words all end with the same final sound "-ao".
Discuss the imagery and emotions in the poem to deepen comprehension.
This cheerful and classic Chinese children’s song—《春天在哪里》(Chūntiān zài nǎlǐ?), is perfect for young learners to sing in the springtime. The lyrics describe how spring can be found in nature—among blooming flowers, green grass, and the eyes of joyful children.
Click here to download the lyrics in Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Activity Ideas:
Sing along with hand movements to pretend looking for spring and finding red flowers and green grass.
Create a class mural on poster paper, where each student draws something they discovered about spring.
3. Chinese Spring Song: 上春山 (Climbing the Spring Mountain)
《上春山》(Shàng Chūnshān) is a song that vividly describes the beauty of spring. Its lyrics incorporate elements of classic Chinese poetry, creating a graceful rhythm and elegant imagery. The uplifting melody brings a lively energy to the classroom. If you're working with students with higher Chinese proficiency, consider teaching them the lyrics and singing the song together.
Youtube Video Links:
Activity Ideas:
Select a few lines from the song and have students visualize and illustrate the scenes. The Chinese lyrics can be found here.
Use colored paper to create a torn paper collage representing the rolling mountain landscape.
《小花朵》(Xiǎo Huāduǒ) is a delightful children's song that celebrates the beauty of flowers blooming in spring. This simple and engaging dance features gentle hand movements, making it perfect for young Chinese learners.
Activity Ideas:
Learn the spring vocabulary from the song such as 太阳 (tài yáng – sun), 阳光 (yáng guāng – sunlight), 雨露 (yǔ lù – rain and dew), 花朵 (huā duǒ – flower), and 小鸟 (xiǎo niǎo – little bird).
Have students draw and label a picture of a spring scene using words from the song.
Sing the song and do the dance movement with your students. You can turn it to a performance!
5. A Springtime Scavenger Hunt in Chinese
Take Chinese learning outside! Let students search for springtime animals, plants, shapes, and textures. Play a game of “I Spy…” in Chinese — 我看见 (wǒ kànjiàn)... and see what they can find! As they touch, observe, and explore, they’ll naturally pick up new words. It’s a fun way for kids (and parents!) to learn while enjoying a nature walk.
6. Spring Art: Q-Tip Pointillism Painting
Introduce your students to Pointillism (点彩画法 diǎn cǎi huà fǎ), a painting technique that creates images using small dots of color! With Q-tips as their brushes, they can paint vibrant spring scenes like cherry blossoms, a rising sun over the mountains, or a colorful rainbow. This hands-on activity is a creative way to blend art with Chinese learning and bring spring to life in your classroom!
Activity Ideas:
Show examples of Pointillism artwork by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac and discuss how tiny dots can form colorful images. (e.g., A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884).
Let students dip Q-tips in paint to create their own dotted spring masterpiece.
Display their artwork in a “Spring Gallery” to celebrate their creativity!
7. Painting Butterflies: A Springtime Art & Math Activity
This butterfly painting activity is a great way to combine art and math in your Chinese immersion classroom. Since butterflies are naturally symmetrical, they’re the perfect subject to introduce the concept of symmetry (对称 duìchèn) to your little learners through a creative, hands-on project.
Activity Ideas:
Observe & Discuss: Show real butterfly images and talk about how their wings are mirror images of each other.
Fold & Paint: Have students paint one side of a butterfly outline, then fold the paper to create a symmetrical print on the other side.
Creative Butterfly Display: Hang the finished butterflies around the classroom to create a colorful “Spring Butterfly Garden”!
8. Spring Chinese Poem Writing:
Encourage your students to become little poets by writing their own spring-themed Chinese poems! It’s a fun activity for your Chinese learners to practice vocabulary, build sentences, and get creative while celebrating the season.
Chinese Sentence Structures for Students to Use:
春天来了，______开了。______来了，______走了。
春天有红色的______，春天有橘色的______，春天有黄色的______，春天有绿色的______，春天有蓝色的______，春天有紫色的______。
在春天，我看到______，我闻到______，我听到______，我摸到______，我尝到______。
藏头诗：春__________, 天__________, 要__________, 来__________, 到__________。
Spring Resources You May Like:
