April activity ideas, week by week

April gives you Easter in most years, spring rain, Earth Day, National Poetry Month, and Jazz Appreciation Month. Below you'll find each week laid out: a coloring page and its Story Starter, two or three low-cost ideas to go with it, and a seated version of every idea.

Each coloring hour works the same way. Print the drawing in Regular and Bold. Hand out a page or two. Read the Story Starter aloud once, to the whole table, then go back to your own page and wait.

If you only have time for one thing a week, make it the coloring hour. Everything else here is extra, and all of it costs little or nothing.

The month at a glance

The holiday:

• Easter: Sunday, April 16. If it came in March this year, the egg hunt in Week 2 works just as well as a plain spring hunt.

Small days that work at a table:

• All month: National Poetry Month
• All month: Jazz Appreciation Month
• April 1: April Fools' Day
• April 2: International Children's Book Day, on Hans Christian Andersen's birthday
• April 10: National Siblings Day
• April 22: Earth Day
• April 23: World Book and Copyright Day
• The last Friday in April: Arbor Day
• April 29: International Dance Day
• April 30: International Jazz Day

Everything for the Easter season is on the Easter page.

Week by week

Week 1: Jokes, poems, and first books

Duckling in the tulips is the drawing pair at the top of this page. Print it in Regular and Bold and let each person choose. Bold has thicker lines and fewer tiny details, easier to see and easier to finish. Its Story Starter: "Ducks at the pond: did you feed them, or keep your distance?" Brush a feather duster lightly across the back of each hand, if they'd like, to feel how soft a duckling might be.

• A joke basket for April Fools' Day. April 1 is April Fools' Day. Fill a basket with clean jokes and riddles on slips of paper. Set it by the door, so everyone draws one on the way in and reads it aloud. Seated: pass the basket around the table. Staff can read for anyone who'd rather listen.
• A poem at lunch. April is National Poetry Month. Read one short poem aloud at lunch each day, the older and plainer the better. Anyone who wants to can stand and read the day's poem. Seated: read it from your chair, or just listen.
• A cart of first books. International Children's Book Day is April 2. Ask about the first book each person loved, and roll out a cart of old storybooks and classic novels to page through. Walkers can browse the cart. Seated: bring the cart to the table and pass the books around.

Week 2: Eggs, hats, and brothers and sisters

Easter falls on Sunday, April 16 this year. Color Lamb in an Easter basket. Its Story Starter: "At an egg hunt, were you the finder or the hider?" The follow-ups: "Where's a sneaky spot to hide an egg?" and "Did you ever dye eggs? What colors did you like?" Pass around a wooden egg and a small woven basket to hold.

• An egg hunt. Hide plastic eggs around the room, low and in plain sight. Walkers hunt, and the table counts. Seated: hide the eggs around the table itself, under napkins and behind cups, and play warmer and colder.
• Spring hats. Decorate paper plates with ribbon, paper flowers, and feathers, and turn them into hats. Then walk them down the hall in a short parade. Seated: wear the hats at the table, and let the parade come to you.
• A sibling photo board. National Siblings Day is April 10. Invite families to send in old photos of brothers, sisters, and cousins. Pin them to a board by the door, so people can walk up and look. Seated: pass the photos around the table in a shallow box.

Week 3: Trees, gardens, and a good story

Earth Day is April 22. World Book and Copyright Day is April 23. Color Wheelbarrow of flowers. Its Story Starter: "What did you grow, or wish you'd grown, in a garden?" The follow-ups: "Who did the digging, and who did the picking?" and "What's the best thing you ever picked straight from the garden?" Pass around a pair of garden gloves and a sealed seed packet to shake.

• A tree walk. Walk outside and find the biggest tree on the grounds. Feel the bark, look up into the branches, and guess how old it is. Arbor Day, the last Friday in April, is a good day for it. Seated: sit in the shade of the tree, or bring a leafy branch and a few pieces of bark to the table.
• A story read aloud. For Book Day, pick a short story with a good ending and read it over two or three afternoons. Anyone who wants to read can stand at the front. Seated: read a paragraph from your chair, or sit back and listen.
• Rain sticks from the recycling bin. For Earth Day, make something from what would be thrown away. Twist a long strip of foil into a loose spiral and slide it into a paper towel tube. Add a handful of dry rice, tape the ends shut, and wrap the tube in colored paper. Tip one slowly and it sounds like an April shower. Walkers can march them down the hall like a rain parade. Seated: tip them back and forth from your chair, one after another around the table, so the rain travels.

Week 4: Dancing and jazz

International Dance Day is April 29, and International Jazz Day is April 30. Color Lilies and sparkles. Its Story Starter: "Did you like to dance, or watch from the side?" One follow-up from the library: "Waltz, polka, or swing: which was your kind?" Play "The Blue Danube" softly while the pages fill in.

• A scarf dance. Hand out light scarves in spring colors and play a waltz. Dancers can stand, sway, and twirl the scarves. Seated: wave the scarves high and low from your chair, and pass a scarf to your neighbor at the end of each song.
• A jazz hour. April is Jazz Appreciation Month. Play recordings by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington, and ask which one people would put on at a party. Anyone who likes can get up and dance. Seated: snap, tap the table, or keep time with a pair of wooden spoons.
• A kazoo band. Hand out kazoos and hum along to a bouncy jazz tune. Walkers can make a little marching band and parade one lap of the room. Seated: play from your chairs, and let the band march past the table.

Ten questions for the month

Ask about, not whether. Each of these has an answer that can't be wrong. Use one a day, at lunch or at the coloring table. Read it once and give it time. Most stories start after a pause.

1. What made you laugh hardest as a kid?
2. Who was the joker in your family?
3. Which book did you read more than once?
4. What did you wear on the first warm Sunday of spring?
5. Tell me about a brother, sister, or cousin you were close to.
6. What did you plant first when the ground warmed up?
7. Which tree do you think of when you think of home?
8. Which singer or band did you go out to hear?
9. What did you do on a rainy Saturday?
10. What did you wear to a dance?

New in the library this month

Spring Garden is still the pack for April: blossom, tulips, an Easter chick, and the first butterflies. Chick on a gift box and Rabbit in the flowers are in it too, each with its own Story Starter. See the whole set on the Spring Garden pack page.