Choose from books such as "Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert, "Ladybug, Ladybug" by Ruth Brown or "Wake Me in Spring!" by James Preller to introduce children to nature (plants, animals, and insects) and the wonders of spring. Draw, color and cut out flowers and treetops from paper; glue them on one end of Popsicle sticks and you have an instant garden. Do the same for bugs and butterflies and make them fly!
Read a fairytale to your child each night and help his imagination soar. Classic fairytales such as "The Gingerbread Man," "The Three Little Pigs" and "Hansel and Gretel" are classics kids love to hear over and over again. Get them involved in the story by crafting hand-puppets to represent the three little pigs, the big, bad wolf, or Hansel and Gretel. Draw or glue facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, ears) onto socks to represent animals; add some yarn on top and you have a person's face with a full head of hair. Simply slide them into your hand and voila---instant hand-puppets!
Introduce your little ones to the Bible with simple books such as "All Aboard With Noah" and "Sweet Dreams Princess: Bedtime Bible Stories, Devotions and Prayers." Use empty milk cartons to construct Noah's ark and use hand gloves to represent animals. Draw or glue a different animal feature on each finger, slide them into your hands, and you have an instant herd ready to board the ark. Or follow the crafting steps for each story in "Bible Story Crafts for Little Hands" by Ruth Esrig Brinn and enjoy a hodgepodge of props to go with your storytime.