Earth Day is a special occasion that reminds us of the importance of caring for our planet. It is the perfect time to teach children about environmental awareness and the actions they can take to protect the Earth. With that in mind, we have curated a list of the 40 best Earth Day activities for kids that are not only fun but also educational and impactful. These earth day activities for kids will inspire and empower them to make a positive difference in the world, and in turn, contribute towards a greener and healthier planet for all of us.
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20 Best Earth Day Activities for Kids to do in the Classroom
1. Let’s Recycle!
Things You’ll Need: A recycling handbook, a classroom
How To Do: If you’re looking for 2nd grade earth day activities, your search ends here! Conduct a class and teach the kids the basics of recycling. Use simple materials and objects and show them practically how you can reduce, reuse or recycle the materials.
2. Make a Bird Feeder
Things You’ll Need: Birdseed, peanut butter, scissors, string, bamboo skewer, cardboard tube or toilet paper roll, and butter knife
How To Do: Hand over the things to the kids. Start by cutting two holes on the top and bottom of the tube and push a bamboo skewer from the bottom hole. This will act as a perch for the birds to stand on. Now, to prepare the exterior of the feeder, put peanut butter on it with the butter knife and roll it on birdseed so that it sticks to it. Finally, put the thread or string on the top hole and hang it on a higher surface.
3. Make Seed Jars
Things You’ll Need: Paper towels, seeds, water, and clear jars
How To Do: This is one of the best ideas for earth day activities for schools. Prepare jars and hand each kid one jar. Let them fill their jars with folded paper towels and fill the jar with water. Let them place the seeds gently on the paper towels near the edges of the jar. This will let them observe the seeds as it slowly sprouts. Transfer the sprouted plant into the garden later. This is how you can make gardening fun for kids.
4. Hanging Planter
Things You’ll Need: Jute string, a planter or plastic containers or bottles, garden soil, water, and seeds
How To Do: This is one of the easiest 5th grade earth day activities for kids. You can either build a holder for the pot with the jute strings or drill holes on the top of the container, or bottle and pull the strings through it, knot it tightly and hang it on the ceiling as a planter. Let the kids pull the strings from the holes you drill, fill the garden soil, place the seed and, paint the planters. Make sure you’re also drilling a few tiny holes at the bottom for the excess water to be drained.
5. Composting 101
Things You’ll Need: Compost bin, soil, kitchen waste, garden waste, and an old rug.
How To Do: This is one of the most engaging 4th grade earth day activities for kids. Teach practical and scientific experiments to kids that focus on composting. This activity is easily one of the best earth day activities for kids. Start with placing the compost bin on the soil. Put the kitchen waste in the bin and top it with a layer of soil and an old rug, and close the lid of the bin. Continue filling it with garden and kitchen waste and keep mixing the waste every once in a while. Use this compost as a fertilizer for the garden and let the kids top the waste with a layer of soil every time and let them use the compost to fertilize the soil every week.
6. Upcycle & Recycle
Things You’ll Need: Waste materials like plastic bottles, containers, empty glass bottles, etc, to teach the kids upcycling and recycling, paint, paint brushes
How To Do: This is one of the best earth day activities for kids to learn how to upcycle and recycle materials. Start with teaching them how to separate waste on the basis of whether or not it can be recycled or not. Next, place the objects you have collected and ask them to turn them into something of use. If this activity involves glass, make sure you’re there to assist them and keep them safe.
7. Handprint Keepsake
Things You’ll Need: Blue and green food color, salt dough, oven, heart-shaped cookie cutter, pictures of each kid
How To Do: This is easily one of the most fun earth day activities for kids. Put the blue and green food color in the dough, place it, and flatten it in a bowl. Repeat this for each kid and ask them to imprint their hands on the dough. Now use the cookie cutter to cut out the palm section and also poke two holes on the top. Bake all these at 200 F for 3 hours. Stick each kid’s pictures in the heart-shaped respective baked dough and hang it in your class.
8. Paperless Day
Things You’ll Need: Nothing!
How To Do: This is easily one of the best Kindergarten earth day activities as it will teach the kids a lot about the planet. Teach the kids in your class the importance of going paperless and tell them about alternatives to paper-based products like digital magazines, e-greetings, etc. Challenge them to go paperless in the class for the next month and share your learnings at the end of the month.
9. Earth Day Coffee Filter Craft
Things You’ll Need: Coffee Filter, Newspaper, water, spray bottle, dropper, blue and green food colors
How To Do: This craft is one of the best earth day activities to do in the classroom. Lay out newspapers on a table and put the coffee filters on top of them. This will make sure the food color and water being sprayed on the coffee filters do not stain the table or floor, and the excess water and color are absorbed by the newspapers. Now start by filling the droppers with blue or green food color and let the kids slowly pour drops on the coffee filters. They will be amazed to see how the color travels across the filters! Now end the activity by spraying some,e water over the filters so that the blue and green color blends together. Leave this to dry and once it is dried, you can use it to hang on the walls of the classroom.
10. Clean Up Experiment
Things You’ll Need: A pan, water, dish soap, oil, and cotton balls
How To Do: Start by filling the pan halfway with water and putting some oil in the water. Now ask the kids to try and remove the oil from the top of the water. Give them cotton balls and dish soap and watch them learn how the dish soap breaks the oil apart and makes it easier to clean. With this experiment, they will also get to understand the impact of oil spills on the seas and marine life.
11. Best Out Of Waste
Things You’ll Need: Empty plastic bottles, containers, cardboard boxes, and anything else that could be recycled or upcycled into something else
How To Do: This is one of the best third grade earth day activities for kids. Fill a box with all the things you collected to be upcycled or recycled and place them in front of the kids. Ask them to pick and choose any one object from the box and upcycle or recycle it into something useful. Give them examples like upcycling a bottle into a pen stand with paint.
Related Reading: Best Science Kits for Kids That Make Your Child Love Science
12. Seed Paper Craft
Things You’ll Need: Tiny seeds, shredded paper, blender, wooden frame, a white felt sheet, mesh, a tray, water, and sponge
How To Do: Blend shredded paper with water to form pulp, using about four blenders full. Pour the pulp into a tray with water, then tightly staple mesh to a frame and submerge it in the tray. Add a few small seeds to the paper and remove excess water with a sponge. Place a felt sheet on top of the frame, flip it over to absorb the remaining water, then let the paper dry in the sun for 24 hours.
13. DIY Grass Crown
Things You’ll Need: Paint or colored paper, gum, scissors, and stickers
How To Do: Start by handing over to the kids all the things required to create the crown. You can either let the kids paint white paper green or give them green colored paper. Have them measure the diameters of the head and start by sticking the paper first. Then cut the upper edge of the crown in a zig-zag manner and end up sticking their favorite stickers on the crown.
14. Earth Coloring Page
Things You’ll Need: An earth coloring book, colors
How To Do: This is one of the best earth day activities for kindergarten kids. Hand every kid a piece of paper from earth coloring pages or a whole book and let them color the pages to their heart’s content- there are no rules!
15. Make an Earth Day Mask
Things You’ll Need: A printer, a printable earth day mask, some colors, and popsicle sticks
How To Do: Take the earth day mask printout and hand over one to each kid. Let them color their masks, and in the end, stick a popsicle stick on the sides so that they’re able to hold it against their faces as a mask. This is a fun painting idea for kids.
16. Birdseed Ornaments
Things You’ll Need: Corn syrup, parchment paper, cold and boiling water, straw, birdseed, cookie cutters, two packets of gelatin, and twine
How To Do: Start the activity by mixing the gelatin in half a cup of cold water. To this, add half a cup of boiling water and two tablespoons of corn syrup. Now add birdseed to the mix and put the birdseed mix in a cookie cutter. Let the kids pat it down with parchment paper till the mold is fully filled. Let them also needle out a hole through it to put a thread through it so that they can hang it later for the birds outside. Leave this in the freezer overnight and push out the solidified mix in the morning. Hang this in a higher area and watch the kids enjoy the sight of little birds feeding on their homemade snacks!
17. Pledge for the Earth
Things You’ll Need: A chart paper, pens, and colors
How To Do: This is one of the best ways to celebrate earth day with kids. Ask the kids what they’d like to do to reduce their carbon footprint. Give them a list of things that can help them do it and ask them to make a pledge of their own. Create a list of all the things the kids have pledged for and put that on chart paper to hang in the classroom.
18. Insect Hotel
Things You’ll Need: A plastic bottle, pine cones, tree bark, twigs, sticks, etc.
How To Do: Cut the plastic bottle into two and punch two holes on the upper surface to put a thread through it and hang it. Remove the sides as you will not need them. Cut the bottle such that it forms two cylinders. Add pinecones, twigs, sticks, bark, etc. in the plastic bottle and hang it somewhere for the insects and bugs to enjoy.
19. Stained Glass Craft
Things You’ll Need: Contact paper, blue and green tissues, glue, scissors
How To Do: Looking for engaging 1st grade earth day activities? This is a great one. Cut a circle of contact paper and draw a black outline around the edges of the circle. Let the kids cut out tiny pieces of tissue paper and stick them in the circle. Lastly, cover the circle up with another contact paper sheet and hang it near a sunny window.
20. Paper Plate Earth
Things You’ll Need: Pencil, skin-colored paper, blue and green paint, wooden pegs, cotton balls, paintbrush, scissors, paper plate, glue
How To Do: If you’re looking for earth day projects for students, this is a great one. Take cotton balls and fix them at the end of the wooden pegs. Dip one of these in blue and another one in green paint. Start painting the paper plate blue and green with these cotton balls. Leave the paper plate to dry while you draw the kids’ hands-on skin-colored paper. Cut the shape of the hand and stick it on the sides of the paper plate such that it looks like someone’s holding it. Once it is dry, fold the sides of the hands to the back and stick them with glue.
Related Reading: Best Art Activities or Art Project Ideas for Kids
20 Best Earth Day Activities for Kids to Do at Home
1. Earth Day Ornaments
Things You’ll Need: Salt dough, paint and paint brushes, thread for hanging, paintbrush, oven
How To Do: Let the kids play with the dough and create different shapes of their choice. Once they are done, poke a hole on the top of the ornaments to let the thread go through it to hang later, bake them in the oven to dry them out, and then give them blue and green paint to paint their ornaments and hang them on the ceiling.
2. Virtual Visit to National Parks
Things You’ll Need: A laptop or a PC
How To Do: Ask the kids where they’d like to go on a virtual holiday! This can be not only a national park but also other places like Mt. Everest, the Sahara Desert, or the Pacific Ocean. Use Google maps to let them roam around and experience the virtual tour.
3. Eat Dirt Cup Treats
Things You’ll Need: Milk, gummy worms, Oreos, Jell-O instant chocolate pudding, small ceramic cups
How To Do: Mix the chocolate pudding with three cups of milk and evenly distribute the mix in the ceramic cups. Crush the Oreos to create dirt and spread it on top of the puddings. And finally, top it with the gummy worms. Let the kids make this super easy dessert and celebrate earth day with sweet treats!
4. Build a Kitchen Garden Together
Things You’ll Need: Seeds, water, garden soil, pots, fertilizer, and gardening equipment
How To Do: This is one of the best earth day activities to teach kids gardening. Start by letting them, choose the plants to grow in your kitchen garden. Teach them to fill the pots with garden soil, pebbles, and peat and insert the seed, and water it in the end. Let them water the plants daily and observe their growth of the plants.
5. Scavenger Hunt
Things You’ll Need: Nothing!
How To Do: This is one of the best earth day activities for kids as it does not involve disturbing nature at all! Take the kids out on a nature walk in a local park and ask them to collect anything they like that could be recycled into something else. You could also ask them to just spend some time in the park and draw a flower, plant, or animal they saw there later on in the class.
6. Nature Walk
Things You’ll Need: Nothing!
How To Do: This is one of the best earth day activities for students. Take the kids out on a nature walk in the local park or garden and ask them to observe the various species of plants and animals they see. You can later teach them the names of each of them and maybe ask them to draw each and hang the pictures on the classroom notice board or wall.
7. Paint in a Bag
Things You’ll Need: A plastic bag, a printout of the earth to be filled with color, blue and green paint
How To Do: This is one of the most fun earth day activities for kindergarten kids. Place the printout or cut out of the earth into the plastic bag and put some blue and green color in it as well and hand this over to the kids. Watch their little hands go over and color the earth with no mess!
8. Earth Day Sensory Bin
Things You’ll Need: A bin or box, soil, toy trees, sand toys, etc
How To Do: Fill the box with dirt, soil, pebbles, sand toys, tree toys, etc and let the little ones explore the bin and play around. Encourage them to touch, look at and feel everything and explain what each object in the sensory bin is used for.
9. Bake Earth Day Goodies
Things You’ll Need: Cake mix, frosting, blue and green food color, silicone cupcake molds or butter paper, chocolate chunks or chips, and sprinkles
How To Do: Looking for super fun earth day ideas for kids? This is the perfect activity to do with your kids. Start with making your cake mix and whisking it properly. Let the kids handle the fun bit, like whisking and adding chocolate chunks or chocolate chips. Transfer the batter to the molds and bake them for 20 minutes till they’re perfectly golden. Prepare frosting in a tube and add blue and green colors in two different tubes. Let the kids put the icing on top of each cupcake as they like and sprinkle the sprinkles for the perfect earth day treats!
10. Homemade Earth Day Crayons
Things You’ll Need: A peeler, oven, silicone tray, knife, and old blue and green crayons
How To Do: Begin by peeling the top of the blue and green crayons to clean them. Cut the crayons into small pieces and fill a silicone tray, ensuring it’s only filled halfway. Melt the crayons in the oven at 100 degrees for 15 minutes, then let them dry overnight. Remove the crayons from the tray the next morning to create a new Earth Day crayon.
Related Reading: Best Online Art Games for Kids for Fun and Creativity
11. Read an Earth Day Book
Things You’ll Need: A picture earth day book or a storybook and a comfortable reading nook
How To Do: You can buy a picture book that talks about nature or the earth online or from a local bookstore. If you have an adolescent kid, you can also buy a storybook instead. Sit with them and read the book with them and tell them a few facts about the earth and how important it is to live sustainably.
12. Go for a Neighborhood Safari
Things You’ll Need: Chart paper, colors, pencil, and eraser
How To Do: This is one of the most fun earth day activities for kids. Organize a neighborhood safari in your area. Ask all the kids in the neighborhood to draw an animal on chart paper and stick it on their windows so that the people outside can see it clearly. On earth day, take the kids and ask the other kids as well to roam around the neighborhood to see the various animal drawings! This is going to be a fun drawing idea for kids.
13. Hand Print Craft
Things You’ll Need: Blue and green paint, water, paintbrush, paper, paper plate
How To Do: Put the blue and green paint in separate paper plates and mix a little bit of water in both. Now ask the kids to either paint their hands with both the paints or just dip the hands in the paints and leave their imprints on a huge chart paper. You can label each hand with the names of the kids and use this chart paper as an earth day decoration to hang in your room.
14. Vegetable Painting
Things You’ll Need: Ladyfinger, lotus stem, paint, paintbrush, water, paper
How To Do: Use vegetables like ladyfinger and lotus stem to create a painting masterpiece with this earth day activity. Cut one side of the vegetable and dip it in paint and use it as a stamp on paper. You’ll see the design gets easily imprinted. Ask the kids to repeat and create a painting for earth day.
15. Painting Recycled Material
Things You’ll Need: Plastic bottles, containers, glass bottles, anything else that can be recycled, paint, paintbrush, water.
How To Do: Use anything you have to be recycled, like plastic bottles or containers, to cut and paint and convert into something that has utility. For example, you can turn a glass wine bottle into a pot for a money plant or convert a plastic container into a plant pot by painting and drilling small holes in its bottom.
16. Recycled Art
Things You’ll Need: Bits of garbage like paper, cardboard, leaves, cloth pieces, etc, gum, scissors, and paper
How To Do: Collect the small bits of garbage that are useless like those mentioned above and ask the kids to use this material to create art. They can create a collage of anything they like- a portrait, a city, a park, etc.
17. Beach Day
Things You’ll Need: Nothing!
How To Do: There’s no better way to celebrate earth day than going to the beach and appreciating the vast ocean and playing in the sand! The little kids will absolutely love this earth day activity. Give them their sand bucket and tools, and while they’re busy enjoying themselves, you can also teach them a thing or two about the oceans, walk with them to explore some crabs, seashells, and tell them where seashells come from, etc.
18. Earth Day Playdough Art
Things You’ll Need: Blue and green playdough
How To Do: Hand over the kids some blue and green playdough and ask them to recreate a part of a globe. You can also ask them to recreate a country’s map with the playdough!
19. Paper Plate Weaving
Things You’ll Need: Blue and green yarn, paper plates, scissors
How To Do: Cut groves along the edges of the paper plates so that the kids have this space to create a base for the weaving first. Hand over these paper plates to the kids and start with any one color of yarn. The kids have to first create a star shape by taking the yarn in the grove and fixing the same yarn in the grove opposite to it. Continue this process and they’ll get a star shape over which they can start weaving with the other yarn. Help them tie the two yarns together when they’re done and you’ll have a beautiful craft to hang on the walls of their room!
20. Upcycled Suncatchers
Things You’ll Need: Blue and green glitter, a ribbon, hole punch, glue, a plastic lid, Q tip
How To Do: Pour lots of glue to cover the plastic lid. Now put glitter on the glue to completely cover it. At this time, you can have a conversation about how much land and water they think is there on earth. Depending on that, they can fill in the amount of blue or green glitter on the lid. Now leave this to dry out for days. You’ll know it has dried when the glue starts to peel off easily. Now punch in a hole and put it through the ribbon to hang it somewhere near the window so that you can appreciate the sparkly earth!
Related Reading: Earth Day Crafts for Kids to Teach Them How to Show Love Towards Planet
Conclusion
We hope this article was able to help you plan out your earth day activity for your kids and that the little ones have a blast along with learning some interesting facts about their mother earth! Give your kids enough room to get their hands dirty to play and create, and try to teach them some lessons on earth preservation along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you explain earth day to a child?
Start with the basics, give them facts about the earth, and discuss the year’s theme. Teach them about environmental hazards and how they can help to save the environment and live sustainably.
What can kids learn from nature?
It is important to let kids connect with nature not just on earth day but otherwise as well. Nature can help kids be more attentive, observant of their surroundings, curious, more engaged and physically active, and fit.
How to teach kids to respect nature and the environment?
Start by explaining the importance of the environment and why it is essential to be sustainable. Little things like asking them to turn the lights or fans off when they leave the room or taking their help in sorting out garbage into recyclable and non-recyclable materials can go a long way.
