The secret to teaching in April and keeping students engaged and learning is integrating holidays and special days into your instruction. There are so many holidays and special days in April to celebrate with your elementary students. Some of the more popular ones are National Poetry Month, National Library Week, April Fools Day, Earth Day, and Arbor Day. This post has you covered with lots of April teaching ideas! You’ll find the full list of April events, holidays, and special days teachers can celebrate and use as teaching topics, themes, and ideas below!
April Holidays and Special Days
As you starting brainstorming April teaching ideas, add these April holidays and special days to your teacher planner.
Special Days
- 4/2 World Autism Awareness Day
4/2 International Children’s Book Day
4/4 National School Librarian Day
4/6 National Library Day - 4/7 World Health Day
4/8 National Zoo Lovers Day - 4/9 National Unicorn Day
4/10 National Siblings Day
4/11 National Pet Day
National Library Week, National Library Workers Day
4/14 National Gardening Day - 4/15 National Laundry Day
- 4/17 National Haiku Poetry Day
4/19 Bicycle Day
Wednesday of the last full week in April, Administrative Professionals Day - 4/20 National Lima Bean Respect Day
4/21 International Creativity & Innovation Day - 4/22 Teach Children to Save Day
- 4/23 National Picnic Day
4/23 World Book Day
4/25 World Penguin Day
4/27 National Tell a Story Day - 4th Thursday in April, Take Our Daughters and Son to Work Day
4/30 El día de los niños
4/30 National Honesty Day
Month-Long Events
Extended Events
Holidays
- 4/1 April Fool’s Day
- Date changes every year, Ramadan
- Friday before Easter Sunday, Good Friday
- 1st Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox, Easter
- 4/22 Earth Day
- 4/25 Anzac Day in Australia
- Last Friday in April, Arbor Day
Authors’ Birthdays
Month-Long April Events
Below are month-long April events you can use as topics, themes, and ideas for teaching in April.
National Poetry Month Activities
National Poetry Month takes place every year during the month of April. Poetry is a beautiful and expressive form of writing which is so incredible and deserves a month of acknowledgement! This is the perfect month to dedicate your literacy block to teaching your students how to write poetry. You can also explore the history of poetry and many famous poetry pieces around the world. Check out the activities below for recognizing this special month in your classroom!
Extended April Events
Below are extended April events you can use as topics, themes, and ideas for teaching in April.
National Library Week Activities
National Library Week is a week dedicated to the many incredible libraries filled with hundreds of books which help spread knowledge around the world! During this week Librarians, and library workers who help organize and keep the library neat are acknowledged and appreciated for all that they do. This week is a great time to bring your class to the school library and encourage them to pick out a book to celebrate National Library Week! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special week in your classroom!
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Gathering of Nations PowWow Activities
Gathering of Nations PowWow is April 28th through the 30th. It takes place on the fourth weekend in April every year. This weekend is a celebration of culture where native people come together from The United States and North America to sing, dance and celebrate culture! This is a large pow-wow and is the perfect time to educate your students on the event through videos! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special event in your classroom!
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April Holidays
Below are April holidays you can use as topics, themes, and ideas for teaching in April.
April Fool’s Day Activities
April Fool’s Day is April 1st every year. It is a day full of jokes, scares, pranks and laughter! People often come up with creative pranks to “fool” their friends and families and once the prank is performed they yell “April Fools!” This is the perfect day to prank your students with a surprise pop quiz or come up with your own silly prank to celebrate April Fool’s Day! There are so many fun April teaching ideas based on this topic! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Ramadan Activities
Ramadan is a muslim holiday. It is celebrated on a different date in April every year starting at sundown and ends in late April or early March, depending on the year. Ramadan is a celebration of religion, prayer, and community and is known for being celebrated by muslims fasting for a month. This is the perfect time to educate your students on this holiday while teaching them about different cultures, holidays and traditions.
Good Friday Activities
Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday is celebrated on the Friday before Easter, which means the exact date changes every year. It is a holiday celebrated by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, where he died on the cross. This is the perfect time to educate your students on this holiday while teaching them about different cultures, holidays and traditions.
Easter Activities
Easter is celebrated every year on the 1st Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. This is a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after being crucified on the cross. People celebrate Easter with family gatherings, feast, and childhood traditions such as the Easter bunnies bringing gifts and eggs filled with candy, prizes and money for children to discover on Easter morning! Check out the activities below for recognizing this holiday in your classroom!
Earth Day Activities
Earth Day is a global holiday and annual event celebrated on April 22nd every year! It is a celebration of the incredible trees, mountains, lakes, rivers and beautiful environmental aspects the Earth provides for us. This is an appreciation/awareness day and a time to reflect on how incredible the planet we live on truly is and to remember that we must take care of the Earth to keep it looking so beautiful! This is the perfect time for a class field trip to have students clean up the Earth by taking a nature walk and picking up any trash, litter or plastic found on the ground to celebrate Earth Day. There are so many fun April teaching ideas based on this topic! Check out the activities below for recognizing this holiday in your classroom!
Anzac Day in Australia Activities
Anzac Day in Australia is April 25th every year in Australia and New Zealand. This is a remembrance day which commemorates the brave individuals who fought in the war and also to honor the men and women who died during battle. This is the perfect day to take a moment to appreciate all the men and women who risk their lives for their people and to educate your students about Anzac Day in Australia.
Arbor Day Activities
Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, meaning the exact date changes every year. This is a day dedicated to planting trees around your community to encourage people to celebrate the beauty and importance of trees! This is the perfect day to have your students plant a tree outside as a class, or provide them each with individual little trees that they can plant in their own backyard or favorite spot and can watch it grow as they individually grow up too! There are so many fun April teaching ideas based on this topic! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Authors’ Birthdays in April
Tad Hills’ Birthday (4/1) Activities
Tad Hill is an American children’s book author and illustrator born on April 1, 1963. You may know Tad Hill for his children’s books such as Duck & Goose, Rocket Writes a Story, and How Rocket Learned to Read. Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Hans Christian’s Birthday (4/2) Activities
Hans Christian was a Danish author born on April 2, 1805. He was known for his fairy tales and classic children’s book stories like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen and Thumbelina! Consider reading aloud one of these stories!
Martin Waddell’s Birthday (4/10) Activities
Martin Waddell is a children’s book author born on April 10, 1941. Our favorite book in his collection is the popular book, Owl Babies. Check out the related resources below!
Elise Parsley’s Birthday (4/10) Activities
Elise Parsley is a children’s book author and illustrator born on April 10th. Our favorite book in her collection is the wildly popular book, Neck & Neck. Check out the related resources below!
Beverly Cleary’s Birthday (4/12) Activities
Beverly Cleary is an American children’s book author born on April 12, 1916. She is well known for her children’s literature including Henry Huggings, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Beezus and Ramona, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and Ramona the Pest. Consider reading aloud one of her books to your class.
Barbara Park’s Birthday (4/21) Activities
Barbara Park is an American author born on April 21, 1947. She is best known for her classic Junie B. Jones book series. This includes books like Junie B. Jones is not a Crook, Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake, Junie B. First Grader: Dumb Bunny, Junie B. Jones and some Sneaky Peeky Spying along with many other great Junie B. Jones books! In addition to Junie B. Jones books, Barbara Park has many other incredible children’s books such as Mick Hartle was Here and Skinnybones. Consider reading aloud one of her books to your class.
Loren Long’s Birthday (4/24) Activities
Loren Long is an American author and illustrator born on April 4, 1964. He is known for his best selling picture books including Otis, Little Tree, and Nightsong! Check out the related resources below!
Ludwig Bemelmans’ Birthday (4/27) Activities
Ludwig Bemelman is an American-Australian children’s book author and illustrator born on April 27, 1898. You may know Ludwig Bemelman for his children’s book Madeline along with the other Madeline books in the series such as Madeline’s Rescue, and Madeline in London. Consider sharing one of these classic stories!
Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Birthday (4/29) Activities
Amy Krouse Rosenthal is an American author born on April 29, 1965. She wrote both adult, and children’s books and was known for the picture books, Spoon, Chopsticks, and Straw! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
April Special Days
Below are special days in April that you can use as topics and themes for teaching in April.
World Autism Awareness Day (4/2) Activities
World Autism Awareness Day is celebrated every year on April 2nd internationally. It brings and raises awareness about people living with autism around the world and a time to celebrate how incredible these individuals are. This is the perfect day to appreciate students living with autism in your school, while also educating students on successful and famous people living with autism and how incredible they are! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
International Children’s Book Day (4/2) Activities
International Children’s Book Day is April 2nd every year all over the world. The International Board on Books for Young People sponsors this day to encourage children to read! This is the perfect day to read to your students, have them write their own story, or take a class trip to the library to celebrate International Children’s Book Day!
National School Librarian Day (4/4) Activities
National School Librarian Day is April 4th every year by people all over the world. This international day was created to recognize and appreciate all the school librarians all around the world for all their hard work and organizational skills. This is the perfect day to have your students write thank you cards and have a class trip to the library to spread kindness and an appreciation for the school librarians! This will make their day and the librarians will appreciate these little acts of kindness so much! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Library Day (4/6) Activities
National Library Day is April 6th every year! This is a day to celebrate national, public and school libraries and appreciate the hard working librarians who organize all the books! This is the perfect day to have your students take a class trip to the school library, check out a book of their choice, and thank their librarian for all that they do! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
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World Health Day (4/7) Activities
World Health Day is celebrated annually and occurs April 7th every year all around the world! This is a day to acknowledge and celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization and raise awareness of the importance of self care such as taking care of both your mental and physical health. This is the perfect day to celebrate health in your classroom by providing healthy snacks, giving exercise brain breaks to get their bodies moving, and providing a calm mediation moment to promote a calm break to calm down any anxious thoughts.
National Zoo Lovers Day (4/8) Activities
National Zoo Lovers Day is April 8th in the United States every year. It promotes a reason for people who love the zoo to come together and share their love and appreciation for all the animals and incredible environment known as the zoo! This is the perfect day to educate your students about animals that live at the zoo to celebrate and appreciate National Zoo Lovers Day. Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Unicorn Day (4/9) Activities
National Unicorn Day is a magical day that occurs on April 9th every year! This is a day to appreciate and celebrate the magical, beautiful mythical creatures that look like horses but have a long pointy horn on their head. Unicorns are a symbol of fantasy and wonder and symbolize magic, love, and happiness! This is the perfect day to celebrate unicorns in your classroom by having a unicorn themed day with unicorn decorations, activities, worksheets, and end the day with a unicorn read aloud. Check out the related resources below!
National Siblings Day (4/10) Activities
National Siblings Day is April 10th every year. This is a national day to appreciate and celebrate your built in best friends known as your siblings! This is the perfect day to have your students make cards of appreciation for their siblings and if students are an only child they can write a card to a close friend or even their pet who may feel like a sibling to them! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
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National Pet Day (4/11) Activities
National Pet Day is April 11th every year. This is a national day to appreciate and celebrate your cute little animal family members… known as pets! This is the perfect day for a read aloud about pets and after students can write a journal prompt about their own pet, or if they don’t have a pet they can write about their dream pet! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Library Workers Day Activities
National Library Workers Day is the Tuesday of National Library week, which means the exact date changes every year. This is a day to celebrate not only the librarians, but also all the library workers and parent helpers in school library’s who help organize and provide helpful knowledge and resources! This is the perfect day to have your students thank all the workers in your school library for their hard and much appreciated work! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
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National Gardening Day (4/14) Activities
National Gardening Day is April 14th every year. This is a day dedicated to gardening and appreciating the hard work that gardeners do to make the community a beautiful happy place! This is the perfect day to have your students plant flowers around the school or have them bring flower seeds home to celebrate National Gardening Day! There are so many fun April teaching ideas based on this topic! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Laundry Day (4/15) Activities
Laundry Day is celebrated on April 15th every year. This is a day to encourage people to do the chore that no one ever wants to do… laundry! It is a long and tedious task but it is so important to keep up with and today is the perfect day to tackle that big clothing pile you have been dreading to get to! This is a great day to teach your students the importance of personal hygiene and cleaning your clothes after each wear! You can teach your students the process of putting clothes in a washer and dryer or how to hand wash an article of clothing which are very helpful and useful life skills.
National Haiku Poetry Day (4/17) Activities
National Haiku Poetry Day occurs on April 17th every year. This is a day to celebrate the Japanese poetry that consists of three lines with a syllable structure five-seven-five. This type of poetry counts sounds not syllables and talks about topics of nature! This is the perfect day to have your students write their own haiku in class.
Bicycle Day (4/19) Activities
Bicycle Day is April 19th every year. This is a day dedicated to the discovery of LSD, otherwise known as the scientific and psychiatric drug. Although many people mistake this day for national bicycle day (the appreciation of the 2 wheeled bike with pedals) this day relates to the historic bike trip taken by Dr. Albert Hofmann where he discovered the effects of LSD. Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Administrative Professionals Day Activities
Administrative Professionals Day is celebrated on the Wednesday of the last full week in April every year. This day is dedicated to celebrating and appreciating the individuals who organize and keep everything running smoothly while greeting people on the phone and in person every single day! This is the perfect day to have your students thank the school secretary when they enter or leave school for the day! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Lima Bean Respect Day (4/20) Activities
National Lima Bean Respect Day is on April 20th every year. This is a day dedicated to the green bean that doesn’t get the amount of love it deserves. It is filled with nutrients and can be a delicious addition to many dishes. This is the perfect day to read aloud the book, The Cool Bean! Check out the related resources below!
International Creativity and Innovation Day (4/21) Activities
International Creativity and Innovation Day is celebrated on April 21st every year. This is a day to celebrate creativity, inventing and all the incredible things people come up with just by using their imagination! This is the perfect day to have your student create something fun to celebrate International Creativity and Innovation day!
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Teach Children to Save Day (4/22) Activities
Teach Children to Save Day occurs annually on April 22nd and is a day for teaching the future generations to save their money and develop good money management skills and habits! This is the perfect day to incorporate money and financial literacy in your math lesson and teach your learners about the importance of money and that it doesn’t just grow on a tree! Teach them the importance of saving and the positive long-term impacts it has on people’s lives. Check out the related resources below!
National Picnic Day (4/23) Activities
National Picnic Day is on April 23rd every year and is a day for families, friends, and couples to bring a basket of food to enjoy outdoors on a blanket. Picnics are the perfect spring or summer activity as it’s a great way to enjoy nature, company, and yummy food! Consider bringing your students outside for a class picnic where they can enjoy the beautiful weather, and create memories with their peers!
World Book Day (4/23) Activities
World Book Day is on April 23rd every year internationally! This is a day dedicated to the incredible object filled with pages of knowledge and stories known as books! This is the perfect day for some independent reading time or a class read aloud to celebrate World Book Day in your classroom!
World Penguin Day (4/25) Activities
World Penguin Day is on April 25th every year! This is a day dedicated to spreading awareness and celebrating the adorable black and white snow bird that doesn’t fly, known as the penguin! This is the perfect day to educate your class about penguins and create an appreciation for the adorable bird for World Penguin Day! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
National Tell a Story Day (4/27) Activities
National Tell a Story Day is on April 27th every year! This is a day for storytelling and encouraging individuals to read a story, tell their own story, or write their own story from their creative imagination! This is the perfect day to have your students create their own stories during English time, while also celebrating National Tell a Story Day! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Take Our Daughters and Son to Work Day Activities
Take Our Daughters and Son to Work Day occurs on the 4th Thursday in April every year in the United states. This is a day created to allow parents to bring their children to work for a day to show them what mom or dad does for a living! This idea helps children grow a better understanding for what their parent’s do everyday while they’re at school, while also inspiring them to start thinking about their own career path! Children also learn positive skills while observing or even helping out their parents at work which is a valuable educational experience!
This is the perfect day to talk about careers and explore the many exciting and fun job options out in the world while also having students share what their parents do for work! The perfect way to end the day and discussion would be with the question: what do you want to be when you grow up?
El día de los niños (4/30) Activities
El día de los niños, also known as International Children’s Day, is on April 30th every year internationally! This is a day to honor children, families and reading. This is the perfect day to be a teacher because you have a room full of children you can celebrate!
National Honesty Day (4/30) Activities
National Honesty Day is on April 30th in the United States every year. This is a day dedicated to encouraging people to be honest when communicating with people! This is the perfect day to teach your students about the SEL unit honesty, which is included in our Social Emotional Learning Growing Bundle! Check out the activities below for recognizing this special day in your classroom!
Popular Teaching Topic Ideas for April
Rabbits, caterpillars, butterflies, and weather are all great topics to teach in April. Check out the activities below related to these timely topics for April teaching ideas!
Rabbits
Caterpillars and Butterflies
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Weather
We hope you found this post with April teaching ideas helpful! If you enjoyed this post, you may be interested in these other posts related to teaching ideas for April:
