Springtime in the City

We're challenging the kids of Chicago to find Springtime in the City from April 1 to April 17. Play an outdoor game, investigate nature in your neighborhood or discover why we have seasons.

To complete the challenge:

• Read (book, magazine or website) for 20 minutes a day for five days of spring break
• Discover new information by doing one activity
• Create one story, poem or piece of art

Keep track of your progress in the Spring Learning Challenge log. Return your log to any CPL location by April 24 to receive a free book. Challenge yourself and celebrate spring!

Read

Our recommended spring reads will have you itching to get outside to play and explore.

When you've been waiting and waiting through a long winter for spring to finally arrive, it's hard to imagine it will ever come. The ground is brown and it rains A LOT, but then it's green—And Then It's Spring.

Now that the weather is warm, Go Out and Play and discover the many activities you can only do outside!

Discover

• Spring means the return of birds, flowers and new babies! Have you seen any new birds in your neighborhood? See how many birds you can find with this handy checklist. Can't find birds outside yet? Try coding a game with Flappy Bird.
• If you think coding can only happen indoors, play the If-Then Backyard game—no computer or app required. Or you can come to the library and learn robotics with Bee-Bots, Rover bots or littleBits circuits.
• You may have played hide and seek, but have you ever played Spud? Here are some other classic outdoor games you can play now that it's warm.
• Everything is coming up green! Try your hand at planting by making a seed ball for your backyard or neighborhood.
• Plants need lots of sun and rain to grow. Chart the Earth's rotation around the sun by making a shadow plot to determine your own geographic north. Learn the science behind clouds and make it rain in your house!

Create

• Make your own chalk and draw pictures or a game on the sidewalk.
• Write a shape poem or acrostic poem about your favorite parts of spring.
• Spring weather can be very windy! Make a pinwheel, take it outside and watch the wind work.
• Plant a garden indoors by making hand-print flowers.
• Help the birds build nests for their babies and recycle your used mesh fruit bag and yarn scraps.
• Love to jump rope? Create your own jump rope rhyme or chant. Need some inspiration? Check out Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope Rhymes.

The Spring Learning Challenge is made possible by a generous grant from The Brinson Foundation through the Chicago Public Library Foundation.