March activity ideas, week by week

March gives you the turn from winter to spring, St. Patrick's Day, Pi Day, and Women's History Month, and in some years Easter too. Here is the month week by week: a coloring page and its Story Starter for each week, two or three low-cost ideas to go with it, and a seated version of each.

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, March 28. In years when it lands in March, borrow the egg hunt and the hat parade from the April notes.

Small days that work at a table:

• All month: Women's History Month
• March 3: World Wildlife Day
• March 8: International Women's Day
• March 14: Pi Day
• March 17: St. Patrick's Day
• March 19 or 20: the first day of spring
• March 20: International Day of Happiness
• March 21: World Poetry Day
• March 22: World Water Day

Everything for the Easter season is on the Easter page.

Week by week

Week 1: Waiting for spring

Snowdrops 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: "What is worth waiting all winter for?" The follow-ups: "The first warm day, a garden, or a ballgame?" and "What did you do the first day you could get outside?" Set a small vase of white silk flowers in the middle of the table while you color.

• Seeds in egg cartons. Fill an egg carton with soil and plant a few fast seeds, like beans or marigolds. Write each planter's name on a craft stick, set the cartons on a sunny sill, and check them every day. Do the messy part standing, at a counter or a potting bench. Seated: bring the cartons to the table on a tray lined with newspaper, and plant from your chair.
• A window walk for World Wildlife Day. World Wildlife Day is March 3. Walk from window to window and count what moves outside: birds, squirrels, a cat, a dog on a leash. Keep a tally on a clipboard. Seated: pick the best window, turn the chairs toward it, and pass a pair of binoculars around.

Week 2: Pie and the women who taught us

March 14 is Pi Day, because the first three digits of pi are 3.14. It's also a fine excuse for pie. Color Apple tree and baskets. Its Story Starter: "When the apple tree was loaded, who got the extras?" The follow-ups: "Did you ever give away a basket of something you grew?" and "What came back to you: a pie, a jar, or a thank-you?" Pass around a crisp apple to hold and smell.

• A pie walk. It works like a cake walk. Number the chairs in a circle and walk around them while music plays. When the music stops, call a number, and that person picks the first slice. Seated: pass a paper plate around the table while the music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops picks first. Check diets before you serve.
• A wall of women. International Women's Day is March 8, and March is Women's History Month. Ask each person to name one woman who taught them something: a mother, an aunt, a teacher, a neighbor. Write each name on a paper flower. Walkers can pin their own flower to the wall. Seated: pass the flowers and a board around the table, and let staff hang it after.

Week 3: Green, and the first day of spring

St. Patrick's Day is March 17, and the first day of spring comes on March 19 or 20. Color Field of daisies, from the Spring Garden pack. Its Story Starter: "What's the first thing you like to do when spring comes?" The follow-ups: "Where did the wildflowers grow near you?" and "Did you pick them to keep, or to give away?" Hum "Daisy Bell," the "bicycle built for two" song, while you color.

• Irish songs for St. Patrick's Day. Wear a bit of green and play songs like "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "Danny Boy." If the kitchen can manage it, serve soda bread with butter, or anything green. Anyone who likes can dance a jig. Seated: tap your feet, clap along, or shake a tin of dried beans to the beat.
• A first-day-of-spring walk. Walk outside, or along the sunniest hallway, and look for the first green shoots and buds. Bring back one small thing for the table. Seated: bring a pot of spring bulbs to the table to look at up close, and open a window if the day allows.
• Three good things. March 20 is the International Day of Happiness. Ask the table for three good things from the week, and write them on a big sheet for the wall. Walkers can write their own. Seated: say it, and staff writes it.

Week 4: Poems and water

World Poetry Day is March 21, and World Water Day is March 22. Color Lotus pond. Its Story Starter: "Lake, river, or ocean: which one did you like best?" The follow-ups: "What did you like to do there: swim, fish, or just sit?" and "Who went there with you?" Put a shallow bowl of cool water and a towel on the table, and dip fingers to feel the ripples. Water Day is a good day to ask about wells, pumps, rain barrels, and the swimming hole.

• A poem read aloud. Pick a short, old poem about spring, like William Wordsworth's poem about the daffodils, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." Read it once, slowly. Then ask which line people liked best. Anyone who wants to can stand and read a verse. Seated: pass the page around the table and read a line from your chair, or just listen.
• Music made with water. Fill six glasses with different amounts of water and tap them gently with a spoon. Each glass rings a different note. Try "Mary Had a Little Lamb" first. Its first line needs only a few notes. Take turns at a side table to find a tune. Seated: set the glasses in the middle of the table and pass the spoon.

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 was the first job of spring at your house?
2. Which woman taught you something you still use?
3. What kind of pie did your family make most?
4. What did you wear on the first warm day of the year?
5. Who in your family claimed a bit of Irish luck?
6. What song gets your foot tapping?
7. Which poem or rhyme do you still like the sound of?
8. Tell me about a lake, a river, or a creek near where you grew up.
9. What did spring cleaning look like at your house?
10. What made a day a happy one when you were young?

New in the library this month

Spring Garden is the March pack: blossom, tulips, an Easter chick, and the first butterflies. Hyacinth and Butterfly on a blossom branch are in it too, each with its own Story Starter. See the whole set on the Spring Garden pack page.