Themes and Plans for March

Themes & Plans for March

March brings breezes loud and shrill, stirs the dancing daffodil ...

So tell me friends, how does March greet you today? As a LION or a LAMB? Or perhaps somewhere in between?

Here in my little corner of the world March is a lamb this year. We are under a Winter Weather Advisory as I type. It has been a bizarre winter with teases of spring sprinkled through and no where near enough snow for my tastes. I am definitely feeling ready for spring. And though he is a fickle friend, March does bring with him spring's first tidings - a mild breeze, crocuses and early tulips, and the all important Cherry Blossoms

And so, with faith in spring's return, I offer you some ...

~ Themes and Plans for March ~

Nature

• Draw plans for Sunflower Garden
• a landscape reawaking, with color popping out to say hello
  
• the old March wind arrives to blow winter away
• blackbirds returning (that squeaky gate sound)
• drip, drip, drip - rain lots of rain
  
• forsythia blushing yellow
• The Full Sap Moon (10)
• sowing seeds indoors
  
• the first tiny crocus appears
• the sun gains warmth; the days lengthen
• fox sparrows passing through
• and maybe one last snowstorm
  

Chumash/Liturgy:

• Purim (10th)
• Rosh Chodesh (26)
• Passover Preparations begin immediately after Purim
  

Household

• Make Shalach Manos Baskets
  
• Get Ready For Passover - This will be a whole post itself
  
• Clear out all the dead leaves
• Powerwash and seal the deck
• Paint the interior of the house
• Plan garden plots.
• Start seeds indoors.
• Purchase fresh sandbox sand.
• Put windowboxes up; fill with hardy pansies!

Life

• National Craft Month
• National Hobby Month
• American Red Cross Month
• National Nutrition Month
• Irish-American Heritage Month
• National Umbrella Month
• March Madness
• Peanut Butter Lovers Day (1)
• Iditarod begins (1)
• Dr. Seuss's birthday (2)
• Alexander Graham Bell's birthday (3)
• Antonio Vivaldi's birthday (4)
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning's birthday (6)
• Daylight Savings Time begins (8)
• National Mario Day (10)
• Uranus discovered (13)
• National Pi Day (14)
• Albert Einstein's birthday (14)
• Horton Hears a Who released (14)
• The Ides of March (15)
• National Agriculture Day (20)
• First Day of Spring (20)

Book Basket

• The Story of the Wind Children
• Feel the Wind
• M is for Maple Syrup: a Vermont Alphabet
• Sugaring
• Sugarbush Spring
• The Sugaring-Off Party
• The Maple Syrup Book
• My Spring Robin
• Spring is Here
• Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic
• That's What Happens When it's Spring
• Pelle's New Suit
• Charlie Needs a Cloak
• Weaving the Rainbow
• The Year at Maple Hill Farm
• Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
• Red Berry Wool
• Purim Goodies
• The Mystery Bear: A Purim Story
• The Purim Costume
• Purim Play
• Queen Esther Saves her People
• The Mitzvah Girl
  

Field Trips & Outings

• Annual Field trip to buy Passover foods
  
• Visit new lambs at farm
• Purim Shpeil at shul
• Purim Carnivals
• Purim parade to deliver baskets
  

Crafts & Activities

• Fly kites at the park.
• Make a toad home.
• Make pinwheels.
• Hang a windsock.
• Work with sheep's wool.
• Decorate Shalach Manos Baskets
• Make Hamentashen
• Make groggers
  
• Make Purim Masks.
• Make a megillah scroll
  
• Paint an umbrella.
• Blow bubbles on a windy day.
• Make a wind guage or rain gauge.
• Learn weather folkore.
• Put out nesting material for birds.
• Go on an early spring nature walk:
  • Search for signs of spring.
  • How many shades of green can you find?
  • Bring home spring branches to force.

Now, I am compelled to mention (as I always do) that in no way do I mean to suggest that my family will be observing each and every one of these March ideas! I am keeping all these themes and plans in a notebook, however, and my hope is to refer back to them each year as I plan out the seasons for my family. I hope that you find them helpful, too. :)

And I hope your March is just lovely ~ whether wild or mild!