Students love learning ways to help the Earth and how to be kind to our planet. Celebrate the place we call home in the classroom with engaging and educational Earth Day activities and fun directed drawing for kids.
Educational and Engaging Earth Day Activities
Earth Day is an annual event that is celebrated on April 22nd every year. The Earth is our home, and teaching students ways we can help protect and preserve it for future generations is very important!
Earth Day is only one day. But that doesn’t mean you should only teach about the Earth that day. Create an Earth Day unit to share and celebrate the beginning of spring.
Let’s start planning meaningful Earth Day activities for our younger “Earth-conscious” students as the day draws closer!
Outdoor Fun Earth Day Activities
Take students outside into nature to experience what the earth provides firsthand. Encourage students to help make the Earth a better place in different ways outside.
There are many outdoor Earth Day activities students can do to help.
- Pick up trash on the playground or around the schoolyard.
- Make bird feeders and hang them outside classroom windows.
- Separate school materials into the trash and recycle bins.
- Plant an Earth Day garden at the front of the school.
- Go on a nature walk to appreciate the things around them.
Kids enjoy being outside, and you can do many outdoor activities with students when celebrating Earth Day!
Indoor Interactive Earth Day Activities
I’ve always tried to find ways to encourage my students to be kind to the Earth. There are many easy ways to celebrate the Earth, and students love creating, learning, and reading about it!
I’ve rounded up some of my favorite Earth Day ideas and included many Earth Day activities for students that I’ve done in the classroom during my years of teaching.
Recycling Sort
Begin your lesson on recycling by teaching what it is and how we can
recycle at home, at school, and in our community. Explain that certain
things are recycled, and certain things are not. You may ask students if they know which material can or cannot be recycled.
As a fun, hands-on activity, print four different recycle bins on colored cardstock and cut out the mouths. Have students sort the picture cards into the correct recycling bin’s mouth, depending on the material it is made from (paper, metal & glass, plastic, or compost).
Science Experiments
There are many Earth Day science experiment options out there. One of my favorites is an experiment that helps students understand water pollution and how hard it can be to remove pollution from water once it is there.
Another fantastic experiment is where students learn how water evaporates, condenses, forms clouds, and then precipitates back down. It’s a great time to discuss how pollutants can condense with the water and end up in the precipitation.
Earth Day Mobile
After learning a little about the Earth and how they can protect it and make it a better place, students can create an Earth Day mobile. Write and draw ways to love and care for the earth on each part. Assemble and hang the mobile as a classroom decoration or an end-of-unit project.
“Holding the Earth” Art Activity
Take a picture of students with their hands in the air like they are holding something. Print their photographs in black and white, cut them out, and glue them to a large sheet of paper.
Color a coffee filter with blue and green markers to look like the Earth. Spray water carefully with a spray bottle so that the colors blend. Once dry, glue the coffee filters into the student’s hands in the photograph to make it appear like they are “holding the earth” above their heads.
Have students create a writing piece titled “Every Day is Earth Day!” Once all pieces are complete, create a beautiful Earth Day bulletin board.
Earth Promise Craft
Encourage kids to write a promise to the Earth about keeping it clean. Record their ideas in sentences, such as “I promise to pick up trash.” or “I promise to turn off the lights.” on a chart.
Grab an Earth Day coloring sheet or create a craft with an earth template and add it to the writing piece. Hang their writing on an Earth Day bulletin board.
Earth Day Hat
Have students create an Earth Day hat to proudly display what they do to take care of the Earth. Students add their names and fill in the boxes with pictures or words describing how they can care for their Earth and why they love their planet.
Earth Directed Drawing Activity
If you’re looking for Earth Day drawing ideas or art lessons that aren’t just a coloring page, students enjoy directed drawing lessons.
Have students draw their own “cartoon” earth with this fun Earth Day directed drawing activity. Turn it into a poster and add information to their picture on how willing they are to make the Earth a better place or care for it in the future.
Earth Day Writing
Get students reading and writing about the Earth with engaging books and simple writing prompts.
Grab a free sample of writing prompts that match perfectly with the Earth Day books below at the end of this post!
Earth Day Books For Writng Prompts
Earth Day Acrostic Poem
Use the “Every Day is Earth Day” poem with students to discuss Earth Day and poetry. After reading the poem with students, have them cut it apart and try to glue it back in order—a great activity to practice sequencing.
Earth Day Read Alouds
Add Earth Day books to your lesson plans to teach kids how to care for the earth in different ways. There are many great book options to add to your lessons, activities, and more!
Earth Day Read Alouds
See our complete list of Earth Day read-aloud books to fill your classroom bookshelves this April.
There are many great interactive and educational Earth Day activities and books to share with students. Kids will love to learn about the earth, Earth Day, and ways they can celebrate and make the Earth a better place for themselves and everyone else who lives on it.
Free Earth Day Activities
Free Earth Day Storybook, Writing Prompts, & Book List
Get started teaching and celebrating Earth Day in your classroom with these FREE Earth Day activities! This resource includes an earth day journal to record ways to help the earth, a children’s book list with writing prompts to match, and art activity ideas.
Click the image below to grab a copy.
Earth Day Activities Environment Science Unit
Try the Earth Day Unit by Proud to be Primary which includes all the activities featured in this post and more. You’ll value the many meaningful activity options and ways students can learn and celebrate Earth Day!
You’ll love my other non-fiction science units if you like this resource.
More Earth Day and Spring Ideas
Spring Classroom Activities Resources For Kids
PIN for Later
Leave a Comment