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14 Fun Earth Day Activities for Kids to Help the Planet
The 3 Rs, which stand for reduce, reuse, and recycle, are known to most adults. However, it’s crucial to make sure kids are aware of their own obligation to protect the environment.
Every year on April 22, Earth Day brings people from all over the world together to celebrate. With Earth Day activities for kids, this is the ideal moment to inform children about climate change and how they can help to safeguard our planet.
Luckily, we can use a variety of spring crafts and activities to encourage students to protect the environment.
We’ve compiled a list of Earth Day activities suitable for your classroom and other settings, and we’ve even added a few extras that kids may do at home with their parents.
There is always a chance to educate children about environmental protection, recycling, and minimising avoidable trash, regardless of where they are.
Let’s get going!
Earth Day activities for the classroom
1. Connect with nature
Wouldn’t it be enjoyable to stroll in a nearby park? The best and most effective approach to observe Earth Day is to go outside and enjoy nature.
Children may watch birds and see wildlife as they explore the parks and conservation areas in their natural environments.
There are a plethora of ways to teach children how nature awakens. Trees start to generate new buds in the spring. The more it warms up, the more birds chirp. Children might grow to love nature and our planet as they see it.
Remind children of the guiding principle of environmental exploration as you proceed: “Take only pictures, leave only footprints.”
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2. Organize an Earth Day scavenger hunt
Encourage your pupils to make a catalogue of their findings as they explore the outdoors!
There are many ways to view and capture nature without causing harm or taking anything away from it. Make a list of things they should see and do while walking, such as:
- Creating floral and plant-themed art
- observing birds (and, if possible, recognising them)
- Any wildlife they see should be noted or captured with a camera.
- Recycling and picking up trash, if you have the right tools, of course
Following, utilise the nature walk as a starting point for writing or a chance for class discussion.
3. Hang birdseed ornaments
With the help of birdseed decorations fashioned from items you may find in the kitchen, you can celebrate Earth Day while feeding the birds!
Birdseed ornaments are fantastic for children of all ages since they provide a snack for feathered friends and allow children to see the birds that visit when you hang them outside the classroom or kitchen window.
What you require:
- Birdseed, twined in straw
- grain syrup
- Cutter cookies
- Textured paper
- 2 gelatin packets
- boiling and icy water
What to do:
1. Until the gelatin powder is completely dissolved, combine it with 1/2 cup of cold water.
2. To dissolve the gelatin, have an adult add 1/2 cup of hot water to the mixture.
3. Mix thoroughly after adding 2 tablespoons of corn syrup.
4. To the gelatin mixture, add birdseed.
5. Use parchment paper to press the seeds into the cookie cutter after spooning the birdseed mixture into it.
6. Fill and compact the birdseed mixture as you go. To allow string to pass through the ornament, make sure to leave a hole.
7. Overnight, put the filled cookie cutters in the refrigerator.
8. The following day, gently push the birdseed decorations out of the cookie-cutter mould.
To hang it outside for the birds to enjoy, thread the yarn through the holes.
4. Build an insect hotel
With some simple materials from around the house, your kids can create a charming bug hotel while also recycling some waste!
What you require:
- Pinecones and tree bark
- a big bottle of plastic
- fallen branches and sticks
- Anything else from the earth that your kids might wish to add
What to do:
1. Cut the bottle in half to create two distinct cylinders. We won’t be utilising the top and bottom parts, so take them off.
2. When the hotel is finished, drill holes in the top of the bottle pieces and hang them with twine.
3. Place pine cone fragments, twigs, and branches inside each bottle. The twigs might need to be snapped to make them shorter. Fill the containers.
To let bugs enjoy their new home, hang outside.
5. Grow a love for plants with seed jars
Science experiments are a student favourite! To celebrate Earth Day, get kids to help you make seed jars. They will be able to see seeds grow from a germination to a flower or veggie, after which they can put it in a garden.
What you require:
- Paper towels Water
- a big transparent jar
- Nasturtium, sunflower, pea, and bean seeds sprout quite quickly.
Steps to take:
1. Paper towels should be folded and put into jars. Give your kids the opportunity to lower the paper towels into the jar.
3. Slowly pour water into the jar, being careful not to overfill it.
4. Children may observe the results of their experiments come to life by placing seeds on damp paper towels along the glass’s edges.
6. Build a cardboard tube bird feeder
Here is a fun DIY project that parents, instructors, and students can do together. These adorable feeders are finished quickly so that birds can use them right away.
What you require:
- birdseed, string scissors, and
- bread knife
- Almond butter
- wooden skewer
- a cardboard tube or toilet paper roll
Steps to take:
1. On the top and bottom of the cardboard tube, make two holes.
2. For the purpose of providing birds with a perch, insert the bamboo skewer through the bottom holes.
3. The exterior of the tube should be covered in peanut butter.
4. Roll the tube in the bird seed until it is completely covered. Pour bird seed onto a dish.
5. To hang outside, insert string through the top holes.
7. Clean up a science experiment
The phrase “science experiment” inspires images of fun and interesting activities to try at home or in class with your parents.
To increase your mad scientists’ awareness of environmental accidents, have them participate in an oil spill and cleanup project.
What you require:
- a water spoon a bar of soap
- frying fluid
- Towel paper
- Cotton spheres
- Two skillets
- a dropper for pills
Science Experiment on an Oil Spill and Cleanup:
1. Water should come halfway up the pan.
2. In the water, squirt some oil.
3. Now for the enjoyable part! Try using cotton balls to soak up oil spills or a medicine dropper or paper towel to absorb it while you experiment with different methods of oil cleanup.
4. See how the oil and dish soap interact by dropping them on one another. Soap facilitates the oil’s disintegration, making cleanup simpler.
Students will have a greater understanding of how oil spills harm birds and marine life.
8. Teach students to recycle
It’s crucial to spark young children’s interest in protecting the environment. Teaching kids how to sort recyclables is a useful method for fostering excellent recycling habits.
Due to the fact that students will need this ability throughout their life, this Earth Day project is ideal for preschoolers or kindergarteners.
Teach children to distinguish between plastics, metals, cardboard, and glass. Request that they put each type of recyclable material in a different bin.
Throughout the school year, anytime kids have recyclables or during lunchtime, practise these abilities.
9. Learn how to compost
Make sure to encourage your students to practise eco-friendly behaviours like composting. They will learn how to create bountiful and healthy gardens and repurpose plant waste.
What you require:
- Soil
- a worn rug
- a lidded compost container
- Plant debris such as weeds and leaves
- fruit and vegetable peelings and kitchen rubbish
Things to do
1. Place the trash can outside on top of soil in the sun. Add more kitchen garbage.
2. kitchen garbage covered in soil.
3. Cover with an old rug and a lid.
4. Kitchen waste should still be added to the compost.
Make careful to sometimes use a shovel to turn the compost as it breaks down.
10. Make a bee and butterfly garden
Our food supply is greatly dependent on bees and other pollinators. Their declining population might have an impact on the supply of produce in supermarkets.
Create a new project for children with simple guidelines on how to design and construct a backyard garden that draws bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. To get them started, provide them with handouts that include a list of various plants and bushes.
Container gardens are a terrific space-saving alternative for youngsters who live in apartments.
11. Make an Earth Day handprint keepsake
What fun it would be to create a lovely Earth Day keepsake out of salt dough and food colouring.
This is what you require:
- Picture of a string child
- cookie cutter with a heart shape
- children’s hands and a broad grin!
- food colouring in blue and green
- round cookie sheet without sticking
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups salt, and 3/4 cup water make up salt dough.
Now for the enjoyable part!
1. Make the blue and green salt dough in separate dishes.
2. Spread the edges of the blue and green salt bits on the cookie sheet. Make the dough flat by smoothing it out.
3. Affirm your child’s handprint placement in the centre of the cookie sheet.
4. Cut out the palm part using the cookie cutter.
5. At the top, make two holes.
6. hours of baking at 200 F. the next day, let cool.
Fill the heart-shaped hole with student images, then hang them up by threading string through the holes.
12. Make a coffee filter Earth
Watch in awe as children use coffee filters and green and blue food colouring to make their own original artwork of Earth! This is how:
You’ll require:
- Newspaper Coffee filters Spoons or eyedroppers
- food colouring in blue and green
Steps to take:
1. To maximise drying time, take the materials outside in the sun.
2. Place the newspaper out on a table or a sidewalk.
3. To collect extra water, use coffee filters on top of newspapers.
4. Apply food colouring drops to coffee filters using spoons or eyedroppers. For the similar result, you may also use blue and green marker!
5. Spray some water to muddle the distinction between the blue and green, then watch as the Earth acquires shape.
13. Create bottled hanging gardens
Offer your pupils this entertaining guide on how to turn an old plastic bottle into a charming hanging garden to share your passion for gardening with them.
What you require:
- Pencil Craft knife String length
- cleaned plastic bottle thoroughly
Join me in completing this:
1. Grab the plastic bottle and the craft knife, then cut a long line from the mouth of the bottle down to the bottom, measuring between 1 and 2″. Slice a rectangle. (This should be done by a parent or instructor.)
2. Make a hole in the bottle’s ends.
3. With a pencil, force yarn through each opening. Make some knots.
4. Place seeds in the soil-filled bottle.
As they see seedlings develop, your kids will be in awe.
14. Take an Earth Day pledge
Kids enjoy drawing and doodling, so make use of that creativity by having them make an Earth Day commitment.
Make a list of the activities that youngsters would like to engage in to keep our environment healthy:
1. erect trees
2. Don’t use paper
3. Unneeded lights should be turned off.
4. Use cotton shopping bags as opposed to plastic ones.
5. Try shampoo bars rather than bottled shampoo.
6. Create cleaning products with vinegar and lemon.
7. Observe the three Rs: Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
8. By producing less trash, you may reduce your carbon footprint.
9. Spend more time outdoors rather than inside playing video games.
10. Use LED bulbs to save electricity because they last a lot longer than conventional bulbs.
or anything else that comes to mind!
Give students a few options for their Earth Day vow that they may use right now to spark their creativity. Encourage them to think of strategies to reduce their carbon footprint, then list them on a piece of paper that has been colourfully coloured.