Homeschooling Education for Vernal (Spring) Equinox

What is the Vernal Euinox

The Vernal Equinox marks the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator. This occurs on March 19th, 20th, or 21st yearly in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. This year (2023) the equinox is occurring on March 20th. The Northern Hemisphere will have their Spring Equinox and the Southern Hemisphere has their Autumnal Equinox. The March Equinox is also used as the marker for the first day of Spring and Autumn by scientists and astrophysicists.

Where is it Celebrated?

Cultures and religions around the globe celebrate the March Equinox. They use it as a way to calculate their festivals and celebrations, or have festivals that coincide with the equinox such as

• Easter (Christian)

• Mardi Gras

• Passover, Hebrew Pesah, or Pesach (Judaism)

• Higan (Buddhism)

• Vernal Equinox Day - Rooted in Shintoism

• Chunfen- East Asia

• No Ruz - Iranian New Year / Persian New Year

• Hilaria - Italy

• Maslenitsa - Russia

• Mabon or Second Harvest - Pagan festival

• Pawkar Raymi - Andean South America

• Carnival - Around the World

• Earth Day (some places celebrate on the March Equinox while others observe Earth Day later on April 22nd)

Cultural Monuments

There are also several monuments and places dedicated to or used for the Vernal March Equinox including

• Kukulkan Pyramid

• Chichen Itza

• Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula

• Stonehenge, U.K.

• Cahokia Woodhenge, Illinois U.S.A.

• Mnajdra Temples, Malta

• Chankillo, Peru

• Machu Picchu, Peru

• Angkor Wat, Cambodia

• Knowth, Ireland

Activities for Kids

Regardless of where you live or what religion you practice there are several activities we can do to celebrate the March Equinox in a Montessori way with our children.

📚 Provide access to books that focus on the changing of the seasons. You can also offer books that are specific to your families religion or culture specifically. Talk about how different the seasons are and what both of your favorite and least favorite aspects are.

🐣 Theme your normal activities to Spring or Autumn themes like flowers, animals (new babies or preparing for winter) etc.. This could be as simple as rotating the animals offered or as complex as creating/purchasing printables for activities. For example you can match vegetables/fruit/ flowers of the season or use themed pieces for counting, sorting, or lacing. You can do painting based on Spring or Autumn colors or incorporate the life cycles of plants and wildlife in the season (like pumpkins or apples for Autumn or flowers and birds for Spring).

🧽 Go through and deep clean the house/property and prepare for the seasonal change. Donate unused or outgrown items to charity. This gives a fresh start to the home while helping others and teaching your child compassion and a sense of community.

🪴 Make/decorate pots for seasonal plants, bird feeders, signs for the garden etc..

👩🏻‍🌾 Create a garden with flowers, vegetables, fruits, herbs etc. and have the child help maintain it. This will help children learn how their food grows and gain an appreciation for beautiful things like flowers. During the Spring flowers attract insects that you can watch, point out and involve in your studies. In Autumn you can use plants with bright colors and/or berries. Some are great for animals to forage from in the coming months.

♻️ Start composting. This is a great way to teach eco friendly habits while providing great fertilizer for the gardening.

💐 Flower arranging can be done in any season but if you have a garden with growing flower then the child can help cut the flowers and take them in for this activity. Once they start to decay (or beforehand) you can use a flower press to preserve the flowers or look at under a magnifying glass or light table. You can also roll or hammer the flower petals on paper for artwork. This can be done with flowers specific to the seasons.

🌳 While Montessori encourages outside time in all seasons, this in particular is a great time to engage with and in nature. The wonders of Spring and Autumn are all around. In Spring plants are budding and growing, animals that are waking up from hibernation or giving birth or evolving. In Autumn animals are busy preparing for hibernation, migration, and Winter. There is an array of weather from sun, wind, clouds and rain, which is the perfect inviting environment for children. It calls to the child’s natural curiosity and helps connect them to the Earth.

Conclusion

There are numerous activities and books, too many to mentioned here. You can take a look at my full lists of Spring books and Autumn books by clicking the links.

Thank you for reading my blog! Please comment and tell me how you celebrate/teach about the Vernal March Equinox or any celebration during that time. Like ❤️, comment 💬, share 💌 and save.