Sprout into Springtime with 10 of our favorite Children’s Picture Books for your Spring Read Alouds!

Ah, Spring! The birds chirping, the newness of life, the sun beckoning our children to absorb its warmth on their backs and join the earthworms squishing the dirt between their little toes. With the magic of Springtime comes the magic of a new stock of children’s picture books for your little sprout. Join us as we delight in the crisp pages of some of the most charming, amusing Spring picture books ever to grace our…ahem…extensive library! Stock up and bring a little sunshine to your read-aloud time this spring!

Spring into These Children’s Picture Books!

1. Worm Weather

This drippety-droppety, squirm and kerploppety splash of a picture book will have you and your little sproutlings racing for your galoshes! With darling verse and precious illustrations, Worm Weather has definitely earned its place on our Spring Favorites list (we even found our non-fiction loving 9-year-old boy sneakily stashing it away for reading on repeat)! If you have adventurous wiggle worms of your own, this one is sure to become a cherished pick!

2. The Fuzzy Duckling

This charming 1949 classic follows a cute little fuzzball as he curiously wanders about a sunny farm and learns to count. The vintage illustrations by Martin and Alice Provensen are sure to stir up nostalgia in your own heart while passing along a timeless tale that every little learner should enjoy (you’ll find another book by the Provensens in our lineup!

3. Chicks and Chickens

Nothing says Spring like chickens! If you’re looking for a picture book about basically anything, you can bet that Gail Gibbons has something you can use! Chicks and Chickens is a beautifully illustrated, informational book on all things poultry, from rooster songs to gizzard grit. Sure to spark a fowl interest in your young chicken herder, we agree with the School Library Journal’s Review on the back cover; “Should be popular.” Alrighty, then!

4. The Honeybee

The blazing neon goodness of this striped buzzy tome had every single one of my children intrigued and enthralled. With bouncing cadence and hilarious honeymakers, The Honeybee is a staple for any smiling springtime stack!

5. The Year at Maple Hill Farm

One of our very very favorite family picture books, the Provensen’s Year at Maple Hill Farm is just. so. good. Feel the low pulse of the farm’s drab January gloom lift and alight with all the busy goings-on of Maple Hill in the Spring. The crazy goose, naked sheepdog and lazy cat will have your family feeling like they’ve just visited the farm around the corner and spent a year getting to know its ebb and flow. 5 stars!

6. Little Blue Truck’s Springtime

Isn’t Little Blue Truck every little boy’s favorite book series? Our mini car-afficionados love the buff frog and cheerful rhymes and friendly charm of beep-beep Blue. Enjoy!

7. Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

My husband and I joke that our wild Friday nights now consist of YouTube Videos about compost and side-shooting tomatoes. Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt is the kids version of all the delight that the garden can bring. A great message for quality time with grandmothers and what is happening in the places we can’t see, this is a picture book that will get everybody excited about their spring garden.

8. Morning on the Farm

I have to always sneak in a Little Jewel Book wherever I can. Simple illustrations, wholesome, darling stories and great moral lessons on work and stewardship make these books front and center on our homeschool bookshelf. This is the springiest one I own, but they are all too precious to pass up! (Rod & Staff is a Mennonite publisher and they do not have a website or email address. Purchase at Milestone Books).

9. Frog and Toad Together

Who can even handle Toad playing music, singing songs, and reading poetry to his seeds to get them to grow? Cracking up together to all of Arnold Lobel’s clever adventures not only create family culture around books, but make early little readers eager to conquer this skill. The payout is worth all of the figure-it-out work. A well-worn classic we buy again and again and again.

10. Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Strawberries

A scarlet, sweet story from the 1950’s, these Swedish sisters are good to the core and a timeless treasure. Part of a 9-book series, Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Strawberries follows the girls as they hunt for wild strawberries and practice generosity. And don’t leave out the boys…also check out the series on the brothers, Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr!

Wanna Add Some Extra Spring into your Picture Books?

Our Monarch Life Cycle Unit Study is the perfect addition to your Spring Children’s Book Extravaganza! Using Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (See Chicks & Chickens above) and Insect Lore’s Live Butterfly Garden set, your kiddos can really flutter into the season!

Enjoy your Spring Picture Books with your little lambs!

And be sure to check out all of Oak & Sapling’s best for your sweet ones!