Great Spring Books to Read with your Preschooler

Spring is such an exciting season to work with young children. There are so many tangible things to see and talk about outside–from the changing weather to budding flowers. We also have lots of favorite books we read to coincide with the springtime theme. The only problem is choosing which ones to read. Here are some of our favorites.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is everyone’s favorite. The repetitive lines make it easy for the little ones to participate by following along, echoing, and filling in language. We work on concepts like colors, counting, and food, and we simplify the language a bit to teach useful phrases like “I’m hungry. I want to eat.” We also try lots of different kinds of food when we’re reading this story and describe how everything looks, feels, and tastes.

As the days get warmer, lemonade stands start popping up in neighborhoods across the country. The kids love making, tasting, and selling lemonade. We set up pretend lemonade stands and the kids practice making and selling lemonade to each other, and then we go outside and set up the real thing.
In Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink, she experiments with different ways to make pink lemonade. And Maisy Makes Lemonade is a simple step-by step guide for making lemonade and sharing with friends.


The Very Lazy Ladybug is a fun story about a ladybug who liked to sleep so much she never learned to fly and has to hitch a ride with various animals. We get to practice moving and making noises like all the animals featured in the story.

Spring is the perfect time to read a story about planting seeds and watching them grow. The Little Red Hen is a great book to talk about growing plants with your child. We think this version in particular uses language that is simple enough to read with preschoolers. It’s a great book for sequencing and talking about helping our friends and family.