Celebrate Spring!

Multicultural Ways to Embrace the New Season

When the cold, harsh winter gently gives way to the warm, breezy sunshine of spring, kids blossom just like the crocuses pushing up through the earthy ground. Coats come off, the back door swings open, and suddenly the whole world feels like it’s worth exploring again!

For thousands of years, people everywhere have felt that same joy when the air changes and spring begins. Many of us already mark the season with family gatherings rooted in Passover or Easter. But if you’re looking for fresh ideas, check out these activities, inspired by spring celebrations around the world. Some of them might become your new family traditions!

A World of Spring Celebrations

Holi is one of the most joyful celebrations in the world. Families across India and Nepal toss brightly colored powders into the air and over each other to mark the triumph of good over evil. Known as the Festival of Colors, it’s a guaranteed giggle-fest for kids.

Bring the color into your home by making rainbow fruit skewers together, filling the sidewalk with bright chalk drawings, or if you’re feeling ambitious, tie-dyeing T-shirts for the whole family. The more color, the better!

Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is celebrated across the Middle East and Central Asia with a thorough home cleaning, delicious feasts, gift exchanges, and lively street festivals. It’s a beautiful tradition of clearing out the old to make room for the new.

You can grow your own wheatgrass to welcome the season, just as families celebrating Nowruz grow sprouts called sabzeh as a symbol of new life and renewal. Or, lead a family spring cleaning session and let your little ones fill a donation bag with outgrown clothes to pass along to others. It’s a wonderful way to make room for all the good things spring is bringing your way!

Shunbun no Hi is Japan’s spring equinox holiday, officially dedicated to honoring nature and cherishing living things. Families visit the graves of their ancestors, clean the headstones, and leave offerings of fresh flowers and botamochi, sweet rice cakes covered with red bean paste. Afterward, many families head out to parks to picnic and enjoy the freshly bloomed cherry and plum blossoms, a beloved tradition known as hanami.

Bring the spirit of Shunbun no Hi home by snuggling up with your little ones to look through old family photos together. It’s a sweet, simple way to honor the people who came before you. Then pack a picnic blanket and head to a local park to enjoy the blooming flowers of spring, just as Japanese families do during hanami. Little ones will love spotting the prettiest blossoms!

Qingming Festival is a beloved spring tradition in China where families tidy up ancestral graves, then celebrate the arrival of spring with ta qing, or stepping on green. They visit a place with plenty of green grass to fly kites and have picnics together. There’s even a charming tradition of cutting the kite string to allow the wind to carry all the bad luck away.

Grab a kite and head to your favorite open field for your own ta qing celebration! Let the kids run barefoot through the grass, set up a game of cornhole or croquet, and see how high you can fly that kite. Feeling bold? Cut the string at the end of the day and send all your bad luck away with it!

Songkran marks the Thai New Year over three days beginning April 13. Families sprinkle scented water over their elders’ hands as a gesture of love and respect, then gather for feasts. Afterward, they spill out into the streets for the world’s biggest water fight to wash away the old year and welcome the new!

Inspired by Songkran, declare a backyard water play day and let the soaking begin! Set up sprinklers, fill water balloons, or break out the squirt guns and see who gets the wettest. If the weather isn’t cooperating, move the fun to the bathtub and let little ones splash to their hearts’ content.

May Day sweeps across Europe on May 1st, filling the air with dancing, flowers, and the kind of joyful community spirit that makes spring feel like a party. Children dance around maypoles decorated with ribbons and flowers, families spill outdoors for picnics, and in France, bundles of lily of the valley are exchanged as sweet tokens of good luck. It’s a fitting finale to a season full of celebration!

Bring May Day home by making tissue paper flowers together, weaving them into simple flower crowns, or bundling them into little bouquets to give to neighbors and friends. It’s a heartfelt way to spread a little springtime joy, and little ones will beam with pride when they hand deliver their creations!

Celebrating Spring Your Way

Every spring is a fresh chance to see the world through your children’s eyes, and there’s no better way to nurture curious, empathetic little learners than by discovering how others find joy in the same turning of the seasons.

If you’d like to keep the exploration going, the NoMeLoMe digital library* has a large selection of animated stories that capture the fun and excitement of celebrations from around the world. Whether you’re enjoying the freshness of spring, cozy winter nights, or anything in between, there’s always a perfect story waiting for your family on NoMeLoMe.

*Click here for more information about the NoMeLoMe digital library. While some resources are freely accessible, others may require a membership.