Learning about seasons: Four Seasons Science Video For Kids

What are seasons? | TheSchoolRun

Savour the seasons with your primary-school child by reinforcing what they learn about autumn, winter, summer and spring in KS1 with at-home activities.

or Register to add to your saved resources

What are seasons?

Every year our planet experiences four seasons: autumn, winter, spring and summer.

As Earth moves around the Sun it spins in a slightly tilted position (on an axis tilted 23.5 degrees from a straight up, vertical position). This tilt is what causes our seasons because through the year different parts of the planet are angled towards or angled away from the Sun’s light. More or less sunlight and heat impact on the length of each day and the average daily temperature in different seasons, as well as the amount of rainfall.

Download fantastic science resources today!

• Experiments And Science Fun pack
• Science Learning Programme for each school year
• All the instructions, questions and information you need

Download FREE resources

There are differences in the weather, length of day light available and plant life during the seasons. Typically:
 

• In autumn the amount of time it is light for becomes less, the leaves start to change colour and fall off the trees. Autumn is called Fall in the United States of America. 
• In winter we have colder weather, sometimes snow and frost, the trees have no leaves and the amount of time it is light during the day is at its shortest. 
• In spring the weather usually turns warmer, trees begin to grow their leaves, plants start to flower and young animals such as chicks and lambs are born. 
• In summer the weather is usually warm, trees have full green leaves and the amount of time it is light for during the day is longer. 

When do children learn about the seasons in primary school?

In Year 1 children are taught to observe the changes across the four seasons. They will learn to observe the weather and how the length of the day varies.

Children should also learn it is not safe to look directly at the sun, even when wearing dark glasses.

How do children learn about seasons?

• Children will talk about and observe the changes in the weather and the seasons.
• They may be given pictures to sort into the different seasons.
• They may create pictures / paintings or artwork associated with the seasons.
• Children may collect information over the year, for example photographs of the trees to compare.
• Children might work scientifically to create charts and tables of the weather.
• During each season as it occurs throughout the year children may discuss the weather changes and take part in seasonal activities such as exploring the sound of crunching leaves during autumn, watching baby chicks hatch during spring, etc.

Books about seasons for children

Learning activities about the seasons to do at home:

• Watch the weather forecast with your child and discuss the weather.
• Talk about the seasons as they occur during the year, pointing out key signs such as autumn leaves, cold weather in winter, new life in spring and warm weather in summer.
• Cut pictures out of holiday brochures, catalogues or old cards and sort into summer and winter scenes.
• Point out the short days in winter and long evenings in summer.
• Collect autumn leaves and create a collage or autumn picture.
• Go for a woodland walk in spring (to look at bluebells) and in autumn (to look at the trees and fallen leaves).
• Be a weather presenter for the evening and act out the weather forecast.
• Observe the weather over a week and record the weather in a table, drawing or painting pictures to go with it.
• Make a rain collector and measure the amount of rain over a period of time.
• Make ice cubes and construct a winter wonderland in miniature.
• Use twigs and cotton wool to make a 3D winter sculpture.
• Make a bird feeder in winter and discuss why the birds might need help to find food.
• Discuss what clothes to wear during each season.
• Listen to The Four Seasons violin concerto by Vivaldi and discuss the different sounds. How does the music represent the different seasons?

This fun Sesame Street video asks children to guess what season is associated with what weather.

The Seasons Activities at EnchantedLearning.com

Learning about seasons with autumn colours

What better way to learn about seasons than by experiencing them and, as autumn is well underway with its leaves of gold and burnt orange, now is a great time to start.

For a young child, the gradual shift from one season to another can be a difficult concept to grasp. With experiential learning and outdoor activities, children can learn about seasons, understand the passage of time and observe changes in nature.

The exploration of seasons includes lots of observation, outdoor exploration, and flat-out fun. To teach the seasons, use pictures and books to describe each seasonal change such as piles of dry leaves for autumn, snow for winter, the beach for summer and flowers for spring.

Move the focus to autumn by pointing out the incredible changes happening around them in nature. Encourage them to notice the temperature change – which means warmer clothes – deciduous trees turning brilliant hues of yellow and shades of orange and showcase seasonal fruit and vegetables. 

Here are some fun activities to teach kids about the wonder of the seasons.

• Experience the season

Explore nature and allow children firsthand experience to learn what autumn is all about. Look for opportunities in the playground – or visit a local park. If your playground is small, try wheeling in a barrow of different coloured leaves for children to feel, smell and scrunch underfoot so they can enjoy, feel and examine them.

• Take a sensory walk

Ask the children to stop, watch, listen, smell and touch. As you explore, expand their vocabulary by asking questions. Is the temperature cold or freezing? Hot or boiling? Does the air taste fresh or damp? Do you feel rain, hail, or mist? If you have a deciduous tree and the leaves have started falling, watch it. Ask the children to guess how many leaves will fall from that tree in one minute. Use a timer and keep count. You could even send this activity home for children to do with their families.

• Go gather leaves

Organise a scavenger hunt and ask children to collect a small pile of different leaves. Sort them by how they feel, colour or shape. Count how many shades of red, yellow, green and brown in the collection. Use the leaves for measuring. You can also organise the children to place the leaves side by side on an A4 sized piece of paper – from one end to the other – and then ask them to count them. For more fun and creative leaf activities try Project Learning Tree

• Keep a science journal

Organise an outdoor paint area for children to draw what they see – ask them to capture leaf colours, autumn clothing and the sky. Do it again in a month and see if there are any changes in their work. If you have a deciduous tree get them to observe if it has changed – some photos will help here – and record it in the journal with the children’s observations. Try pressing in some leaves or any flowers that are blooming. You could place a photo every fortnight on a display board to show the tree changing. Also encourage families to try this at home by photographing a tree that’s changing.

• Taste the season

Educating children about seasonal food has far-reaching benefits because not only does it help children learn more about where food comes from, it may encourage them to try new healthy foods.

Present a rainbow with the extra appeal of fresh brightly coloured fruit and vegetables. Autumn foods include fruits such as avocado, grapes, kiwifruit, mandarins and passionfruit. While top picks for vegetables are capsicum, carrots, cucumbers, kumara, cauliflower and cabbage.

Using a range of different mediums can help to engage children and reinforce key messages about food seasonality. Engage the concept of seasonality by using songs, visuals, stories and a wide range of practical activities like displaying a calendar of foods in season. This is a great visual tool and can highlight the foods that are best each month.

• Autumn crafts

Involve nature in daily play and creating, as art and craft supplies don’t all have to come from a store. Some of the best crafting materials are just outside the door. Natural art and craft materials such as flowers, leaves, twigs, bark, seedpods and stones can be found in almost any playground. Additional items will already be in the cupboard.

There are numerous benefits to using natural materials they’re free, children go outside to collect them, they may increase language and observational skills with hands-on discovery, it’s fun and it inspires creativity. Plus collecting craft items outside can become game, much like a scavenger hunt.

Children can go nature hunting with their family and bring in a small collection for crafting. Continue the learning experience by talking about the kinds of materials they have collected. What was the most common? What was hard to find? What was their favourite, and why?

The natural objects could include rocks, stones, leaves, bark, feathers, seed pods, and twigs and here are some craft ideas to try with your treasures:

• Sort the collection into groups, such as type, where they were found, colour, size and shape.
• Match items that feel similar (e.g. rough, smooth) or look similar (shape, colour).
• Add to playdough or clay to provide opportunities for your child to combine materials (for example, use seed pods for eyes, sticks for arms and legs).
• Create art with leaves, try leaf rubbings to observe shapes and patterns (for example, place a leaf under a blank paper and rub with a crayon or pastel).
• Create a collage by arranging natural objects or gluing them to card.
• Make some ‘natural’ cupcakes by putting out some paper cupcake cases and provide clay or play dough for the cake. The toppings and candles can be sticks, leaves and stones.

References and additional resources

Fall vs spring lesson plan

Education.com: 10 Ways to Teach Your Child About the Seasons

Parenta: Teaching children about eating seasonal food

Suzy and Friends: Factsheet on autumn leaves

Learning the seasons. |

On this page you will find material related to the study of the four seasons. Watch, download, print. Learn by playing.

Contents of the article.

(For a quick jump, click on the title of the section)

At what age do we start learning

How easier it is for a child to remember the seasons

Choosing thematic material for children

Learning the seasons.

For adults, it seems that knowing the seasons is simple, natural and obvious. But for a child, such a concept as the seasons does not seem simple and clear. A small child does not clearly imagine what winter, spring, summer and autumn are, since they cannot be touched or felt. And as it turns out in practice, it is not always possible to explain such a phenomenon as the seasons the first time.

How to explain these processes of nature to a child, how to help him remember such information more easily?

In order to make it easier for a child to understand and remember, it is necessary to engender in him associations with something existing.

At what age do we start studying.

Learning, or more precisely, getting to know the seasons, can start very early. From 1.5 – 2 years.

At this age, introduce the child to the outside world, introduce such concepts as cold-warm, rainy-sunny, the leaves were green – they turned yellow.

Form initial ideas about the seasons. In winter – snow, in spring – buds and green grass, in summer – fruits, berries and the sea, in autumn – the leaves turn yellow and fall.

It is also possible to introduce a child at an early age with the help of pictures and cartoons. Show your child a picture and tell them what it is. Viewing pictures should not take more than five minutes. If you see that the child does not show interest in the pictures, does not want to listen and look, then do not insist. You have a lot of time ahead, everything will be in time!

By the age of three, it is already possible for a child to explain the difference in seasons. At this age, the child already understands exactly what rain, snow is, when it is cold outside, when it is warm. When walking with a child, pay attention to changes in nature, tell what has changed on the street. Start with the season that is currently outside the window. So that the child can see by life example what changes are taking place in nature.

If at the age of 3-4 years you have not yet begun to get acquainted with seasonal changes and seasons, then at the very time when you need to do it!!!

At the age of four, it is already necessary to take the process of studying the seasons more seriously. During his four years of life, the child has already watched the change of seasons several times. He has already formed some of his own associations with each time. For example: in winter we go sledding, and in summer we go to grandma’s.

At the age of 5-7 years, a child must clearly know and understand natural phenomena!!!

How easier it is for a child to remember the seasons.

At preschool age, children learn only in the form of games. Nowadays, there are enough bright, colorful materials, visual aids, books and games on the theme “Seasons”. These manuals can be bought, you can print from the Internet, you can do it yourself.

1. With a child, you can do different types of creativity, drawing, appliqué, coloring. In the process of engaging in creativity, carry on a conversation and explain to the child when and what happens. For example, from drawing and application from our site:
2. You can read books and look at bright and eye-catching pictures. You can buy a book with stickers, and stick stickers while completing tasks. Thus, consolidate the acquired knowledge.
3. You can play educational games on the theme “Seasons”, these can be puzzles, lotto, games with clothespins, etc.
4. Learn verses to guess riddles. To learn a verse in 5 minutes, show your child a mnemonic table, the result is guaranteed.
5. Use colorfully designed cards – storytelling algorithm.
6. Watch educational cartoons and videos.
7. And most importantly, watch the changes in nature in real life. Notice and discuss what is happening.

Here are approximate features of the seasons that will be accessible and understandable to every preschooler:

WINTER.

This is, of course, white snow, it’s cold. People dress warmly, hats, fur coats, scarves, gloves. Children go sledding, downhill, skiing and skating, play snowballs, make a snowman. Favorite holiday – New Year, decorate the Christmas tree, gifts from Santa Claus.

SPRING.

Snow is melting, birds are coming, animals are waking up from hibernation, buds are appearing on trees, trees are blooming, then green leaves appear. The grass is green, the flowers are growing. Holiday – March 8, give mimosa and tulips. Easter cakes are baked.

SUMMER.

Associated with the sun, warmth, few clothes, the sea, a trip to the grandmother, fruits and berries ripen, flowers, butterflies. The day is long and the night is short, the children walk outside for a long time. Children ride bicycles, scooters, rollerblades, swim in the river.

AUTUMN.

The leaves turn yellow, fall off, the trees become “naked”. It’s raining and windy outside, the birds are flying south. Harvest, umbrella and rubber boots.

Experiment, fantasize, study, consolidate!

Use the materials from our site, we will be happy!!!

Thematic material for the study of the seasons.

Four Seasons Puzzle

More

Seasons Clothespin Game

• Main Playing Field
• Cards to stick to clothespins

Read more

A3 and A4 posters signs of Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn.

Download

Scheme of the story about Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn.

Download

See also:

Learning the seasons with the baby: how?

Reviewer

Kovtun
Tatiana
Anatolievna

7361 views

September 15, 2021

Login or register to save articles and products as favorites

The baby is growing and the world around him is changing. Yesterday it was cold outside and it was raining heavily, the trees were bare, and today the birds are chirping merrily, everything is so green and smells so delicious!!! When the baby is 2 years old, you can begin to acquaint him with the seasons, because he has already lived them all.

Already at the age of two or three years, the child is able to well determine the seasons, their sequence, and the main signs.

Preparing educational materials

Young children are best at absorbing visual information. Therefore, before you start learning, take care of didactic materials. It can be books, cards with the seasons, lotto. Your task is to explain to the baby in simple language, using his imagination and creating simple associations, what winter, spring, summer and autumn are.

Visual game: seasons

Take four sheets of paper, preferably in different colors: white for winter, blue for spring, green for summer and yellow for autumn. An adult draws a tree with branches on each leaf. And then you need to transform each tree together with the baby, according to the seasons.

Winter will be covered with a layer of white cotton wool or semolina like snow. Small green dotted leaves drawn with a cotton swab will appear on the spring one. Summer will have large green leaves and flowers that can be made from pre-dyed pasta or cut from colored paper. Autumn can be decorated with bright buttons or bright red and orange brush blots.

Winter.
It’s cold, it’s snowing. You can go sledding, skiing and skating, as well as make snowmen and play snowballs. We dress in warm clothes, wear mittens and hats with scarves. And in winter, the New Year comes, and Santa Claus gives us gifts.

Spring.
Snow melts. It is getting warmer. You can put a fur coat and mittens in the closet and put on a light jacket. The birds are returning. The first leaves and grass appear.

Summer.
It’s hot outside. Everything is green, lots of flowers. We eat fruits and berries, swim and sunbathe. Everyone rides scooters and bikes.

Autumn.
The leaves turn yellow. The birds are flying away. It’s getting cold, it’s starting to rain. Umbrellas, raincoats, rubber boots are needed.

It is very convenient to learn the seasons, “starting” from the baby’s wardrobe. Together, make a set of clothes in order to go outside in winter or summer. You can use dress-up games: paper dolls that change clothes (they are magnetic or Velcro).

When the first stage is mastered, it will be possible to tell in detail what is happening with nature, with water, what animals do. Get ready to answer a hundred thousand questions. A colorful children’s encyclopedia will help you.

After you have told everything about everything, it is time to consolidate the material and here you can not do without games. For example, you can sort picture cards by season, or name what people do in the fall and what they do in the spring.

You can prepare 4 small boxes, decorate them beautifully and fill the boxes with “memories” of summer, autumn, winter and spring together with your baby. Take apart the family photo archive and make a “calendar” of photos. The kid will see how he himself looked in autumn and spring, what he was wearing and what he did on the street in winter and summer.

Pay your child’s attention to the changes outside the window more often. Explain that it can rain in summer, that the sun shines in winter, but it does not warm. Tell your baby as much as possible about the world around him and answer all his questions, and then soon he will not confuse winter with spring, and summer with autumn. And after a little more time, he will be able to list all the months of the year, and even in the correct order!

One of the most effective ways to learn about the seasons is to associate each season with a holiday. So, winter is the New Year, spring is March 8, summer is holidays, autumn is Knowledge Day. And it will also be easy for the child to remember the season and month when his birthday is celebrated.

Books about the seasons

• Small town series Susanna Rotraut Berner. Spring, Winter, Summer, Autumn.
  These are books without words. You look at them and make up your own stories. There are many heroes in the pictures, which are very interesting to look for and not always easy to find
• Bianchi’s Blueprint Calendar.
• Vladimir Svechnikov “Seasons. Illustrated Encyclopedia.
• Elena Ul’eva “Creative assignments. Seasons”.
• Tatyana Romanova “We play during the seasons. 40 savvy for kids.
• S. Marshak “All year round”.
• Alexander Golubev “Klyovik’s Summer Adventures” (there is a book about winter, spring and autumn).

Reviewer
Kovtun
Tatiana
Anatolievna

Scientific adviser to JSC PROGRESS, Candidate of Medical Sciences

All expert articles

Seasons for children and simple methods for learning the names of the months

Your baby is growing and it’s time to tell him that winter comes after autumn, and always comes after spring summer. Parents are wondering what are the most effective and simple learning methods, how to make the seasons understandable for children?

Baby calendar

The seasons are easy to tell apart. Each season brings an important, interesting event. For example, birthdays, family dates and holidays, New Year, so loved by the kids. Engage your child in compiling a personal calendar:

1. In winter, Santa Claus comes to the baby with gifts, dad brings a Christmas tree, and the baby decorates it.
2. In the summer the whole family goes to the sea: your parents have a vacation, mom and dad are both at home, and you have fun together in nature.
3. In autumn it rains and you can run through the puddles in boots, and older children go to school with backpacks.
4. In the spring the snow melts, and the first flowers bloom, the leaves on the trees turn green more and more right before our eyes.

With your help, the child notices and learns the names of the seasons. Months are more difficult. Not only is it so difficult to remember their names, you also need to learn the order of how they run after each other, like a round dance.

Techniques for memorizing the months and seasons of the year

When should baby start getting to know the outside world? It is best to start a detailed acquaintance with the months when the child will speak. Now your every walk becomes not only entertainment, but one thing and an occupation. But how to teach a child the months of the year and the names of the seasons is not difficult, start implementing the techniques from this article right now:

• Play games.
• Create drawings.
• Learn and compose poems, riddles, fairy tales, stories, cartoons.
• Use associations, memorable dates.
• Pay attention to sensations.
• Explain why seasonal clothing is worn.
• Link your baby’s favorite holidays to months.
• Contemplate nature on walks, finding with your baby all the changes that take place.

Detailed description of methods. The child is 2 years old

Walks. Active, linguistic observation of nature can be taught from the age of 2. Each new day, fix the child’s attention on the weather, what season and month it is. Describe in words everything that you find and feel today. Become a walking and talking encyclopedia for your child.

What is it for? The information will be stored subconsciously, that is, your baby will instinctively know the names of the months and what is associated with them, without memorizing them specifically. Later on, this long-term memory will help him when you move on to learning games.

The child is 3 years old. Educational games

There are special calendars of nature, lotto “Seasons” and their digital counterparts for children. Take 4 identical parts of the sheet, stick on each picture, with which it will be easier for the child to explain the difference between winter and summer. Sign the drawings and stick on these cards an envelope, which will contain pictures with clothes corresponding to this season, postcards for the holidays and other images. At the age of five, you will replace these drawings with pictures with the names of the months. The top flap of the envelope should be cut off so that the cards are visible from it, and it is easy for the baby to get them with his fingers.

First, let the child remember the names of the seasons and what is connected with them. Discuss with him what you can do when it snows, the sun shines hot, it rains. At the same time, it is better to start learning the alphabet, and it will be possible to start mastering the months at the age of 5. Be patient, as putting the names of the months into your head, their sequence is quite difficult. But, in anticipation of the fifth anniversary, your child, having mastered the alphabet, will already be able to more easily perceive information and structure it.

Poems, riddles, fairy tales, cartoons, children’s films

In the period from 3 to 5, the baby also receives information about the seasons and months from literature and television. There are many riddles and quatrains on this subject that are easy to learn by heart.

Winter.

Smoke coming out of the chimney.
Glass painted.
We ride sleds.
We are not cold, we are warm.

Summer.

Summer has come to us again!
It became hot and light.
On the paths straight
Bare feet run.

Spring.

The week of March will fly by,
April will ring with a drop,
Behind him, May will come to us in flowers,
The sun will shine on our city.

Autumn.

If the leaves on the wood turn yellow,
If the birds flew into the blue sky,
If the cloud is gloomy or the rain is pouring,
Everything outside the window is called autumn.

Good films were made back in Soviet times: “Twelve Months”, “Frost”, “Three Nuts for Cinderella”, a film about spring “Snegurochka”, which shows the change of seasons and the melting of snow. Watch them with your child and talk about these moments. Even if the kid watched the movie or cartoon himself, discuss with him what he liked the most and what upset him, what he would do. Pay special attention to the details of the seasons.

Child 5-6 years old

By the age of five, your child usually has already mastered the alphabet, clearly knows the difference between winter and spring, even expresses his preferences, which season he likes the most. Now it is time to explain to him in what order the months go.

Games with associations

It’s time to take out 12 cards from our envelopes and study them in detail. Ask your child to put the months in order and tell him how he remembers them, when it will be Christmas or grandmother’s name day, what clothes people wear in January when you go on vacation.

Making an unusual watch

1. Divide the thick cardboard circle into 4 parts. These will be sectors with images of the seasons. Divide each sector into 3 parts and write the names of the months.
2. Attach hands to your watch.
3. Set the arrows to the desired location.
4. Change the direction of the arrow every first number. Of course, it is better to let the baby do it himself.

Now, seeing every day all the months at once, the child will intuitively memorize their location. Draw his attention to the Hours of the Seasons. “What season of the year is it now? Is it autumn now, September?

Do not forget about intimacy

Psychologists say that joint games, communication, walks, crafts, helping preschoolers in the kitchen and around the house form warm memories that will save them in adulthood. While the children are small, we do not just teach them, we lay a strong foundation, deep roots that will not let them fall in difficult moments of life.

Don’t worry if your child learns the names of months and seasons slowly. Coming to school, he will easily consolidate this skill in the first year. From the age of six, you can start writing the date and month in writing every day.