March came in like a lion and blew away with great gusto, too. So much for the whole “in like a lion, out like a lamb bit” for this year, right? Here’s hoping the lush breezes of springtime blow beauty and aromatic wonder onto your family’s April calendar! Fill the calendar with fun activities to make special family memories throughout the month. Be sure to catch a whiff of wisteria, gaze in awe at azaleas, and check out Cherokee rose bushes. Try to overlook yellow pollen stains while taking in springtime’s rainbow of colors. And while you’re celebrating spring, add in a few of these silly holidays to make April even more festive and fun.
Garden Month – Plan a flower garden or vegetable garden to plant and work with the family in the next several weeks and watch for the fruits of your labor to burst forth. If your living space won’t accommodate a garden, find a you-pick place to enjoy their fruits and veggies or take a stroll through the garden center of various locations in town.
National Card and Letter Writing Month – Choose and afternoon everyone is free and set out supplies that include blank cards, stationary, pens, markers, crayons, stickers, envelopes, and stamps. Gather as a family and talk about friends and family members that you’d like to send a handwritten card or note. Spend time together as a family writing those people you discussed. You might want to create your own stationary or include a piece of artwork in the card or letter. Address the cards properly, place a stamp in the right spot, and then head to the post office as a family to drop the letters in the mail. Then treat yourself to ice cream or a lemonade before heading back home.
National Frog Month – Go for a walk sometime this month after an afternoon or early evening rain shower. Listen for the croaking, peeping, or singing of toads and frogs. Walk until you find at least one, hopefully more of these hopping critters. Take some pictures of each one you spot and look up pictures online when you return to identify each one. Be on the lookout for leopard frogs, northern chorus frogs, spring peepers, tree frogs, and more.
Read a Road Map Week – Take a family day trip and use a road map to get there. Put away the digital devices that boast GPS capabilities and rely strictly on a road map to get you where you’re going. Print out a copy of the map before you go, one for each person in the family, and follow along together until you arrive at your destination. Use the same map to return after the family adventure, or if you’re like me and struggle to go backward using the frontward directions, print out a directionally-different copy of the map to get back home.
National Coin Week – Empty the family piggy bank and play a fun coin game. Use painter’s tape to make squares on two thirds of the kitchen table or use an area of the floor and add squares. Make squares with sides about two inches long. Give the squares different numbers of points by writing with a pen on the tape. Then let each family member take turns pushing a coin from the other end of the table towards the squares. You may choose to “flick” the coin by pushing it with the index finger flipped off the thumb. Or another way to send it across the table is to use the eraser end of a new pencil to sling the coin across the table.
If a coin touches lands touching a square, give that person the number of points written on the square. If the coin goes in the middle of the square and lands without touching any of the tape sides, that person gets double the number of points written on the square. After you’ve enjoyed some family competition, count up all the coins and consider spending the money on a family treat like donuts or fruit smoothies.
Enjoy every moment of springtime in the south. Take in all the sights and sounds and aromas of the season. Treasure Easter moments, give thanks for the cross, and make every day a holiday with the ones you love. Happy Spring!
Statesboro native Julie Lavender enjoys getting outdoors to observe God’s creations and writing. Her most recent book, coauthored with husband David, releases next month. Look for "Raising Good Sons: Christian Parenting Principles for Nurturing Boys of Faith and Character" from Penguin Random House.
