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Kimberly's Classroom

Providing elementary teachers with fun, engaging resources to save time and enhance quality learning!

20 EASY EARTH DAY ACTIVITIES FOR ELEMENTARY KIDS

March 27, 2024 by kimberly.repe

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We officially celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, but as teachers, we know how important it is to try and sprinkle environmental activities in all year long.

If we ever have a chance of preserving our planet for future generations, it’s vital that we teach our students the importance of protecting it.  Afterall, education is the most powerful catalyst for change!

Girl holding the earth over her head on Earth Day

Unfortunately, there is a TON on our plates already, so if we’re going to squeeze in more activities, they need to be easy and low prep!  Don’t worry, these ideas will both inspire your students and give you some much needed planning time back.

So, let’s dive into some incredibly fun and impactful Earth Day activities that you can incorporate throughout the school year!  Grab a cup of coffee (or beverage of choice) and let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
  • Water Conservation Posters
  • Planting and Gardening
  • Protect Our Earth Game
  • Nature Walk
  • Animal Report
  • Earth Day Books
  • Earth Day Bingo
  • Digital Task Cards
  • Trash to Treasure Art
  • Environmental Action Plan
  • Earth Day Posters
  • Earth Day Craft
  • Nature Journaling
  • Outdoor Yoga and Meditation
  • Balancing Core Subjects
  • Upcycled Bird Feeders
  • Earth Day Coloring
  • Write the Room Activity

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Earth Day is a great opportunity to teach your students the importance of reducing waste, reusing materials, and recycling! 

Recycling bin printable sorting materials activity for Earth Day

Keep your lesson engaging by playing a fun movement game!  Divide students into teams and set up stations with recyclable materials. Students race to sort the materials into the correct bins, teaching them about recycling while fostering teamwork.

Water Conservation Posters

Another topic to discuss with your students is water conservation. It’s important that our young learners become familiar with ways they can reduce water usage at home and at school.

Young Asian girl brushing her teeth and conserving water

Have your kiddos brainstorm ideas with their classmates for saving water.  They can then create posters with their water-saving tips and strategies.  Simple actions like turning off faucets while brushing teeth, fixing leaky faucets, or taking shorter showers are some great examples! 

Planting and Gardening

A great way to connect with the Earth is by getting our hands in the soil and planting!  

Girl planting seeds and holding a potted plant for Earth Day

Allow your students to plant seeds in a school garden or in pots. Teach students about the importance of plants for the environment and how they help clean the air.  You could also discuss the parts of a plant or the life cycle of plants.

Parts of a plant posters, charts, and flashcards

Protect Our Earth Game

After discussing ways that we can help protect our planet and actions that can harm our planet, give this fun sorting game a try!

Printable, easy sorting activity for Earth Day.  Kids sort cards by whether they are helpful or harmful to the planet.

You can attach the Earth pictures to containers. One bin is for things that help Earth and the other bin is for things that can harm Earth. Students can look at the cards one by one and sort them into the correct containers.

This activity is great to use in centers, small groups, for write the room activities, checking for understanding or vocabulary support for writing projects!

Nature Walk

Take students on a nature walk around the school grounds or to a nearby park. Encourage them to observe and appreciate the natural world around them, and discuss the different plants, animals, and ecosystems they encounter.

You can take it one step further by adding a fun list of nature elements that students can check off as they go!

Differentiated, printable worksheets for Earth Day.  Math, literacy, reading, writing, science, and social studies skills included.

Animal Report

Most children naturally love animals! I mean, what’s not to love! They’re fluffy, scaly, winged, webbed, and all around just incredible! And Earth Day is a beautiful time to stress the importance of preserving animal habitats!

Get your students excited by having them pick an animal and let them dive into research! These animal reports are a great way for kids to dip their toe into the research world because the facts are provided for them. 

They can use graphic organizers to organize their thoughts about these facts and complete differentiated reports on their findings!

Ocean animal reports with facts, graphic organizers, and reporting worksheets.
Winter & Arctic animal reports with facts, graphic organizers, and reporting worksheets.

Earth Day Books

I can’t not mention the power of reading! Books are always a splendid way to introduce topics and provide engaging visuals to help students process more abstract thoughts.

Choose some environmental topics that you’d like to discuss with your students. If they walk away with the knowledge of just how important taking care of our Earth is and ways they can do this in their everyday lives, then mission accomplished!

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few to try!

Earth Day Bingo

Keeping your students engaged in Earth Day lessons can sometimes be challenging, especially when the topics are complex or abstract.

Earth Day & recycling bingo game with calling cards and riddles

One way to keep your students actively learning is through play!  Learn, practice, or review Earth Day vocabulary with a fun game of bingo!  Use Earth Day manipulatives to cover bingo spaces or students can color the images. BINGO!

colorful bingo chips

For more ideas on how to use bingo games as effective learning tools in your classroom, you can check out this article here!

Digital Task Cards

Assessments can be such a bore for students. Digital task cards are a great way to inject some fun, while checking for understanding. 

Boom Cards are self-checking, which makes your job even easier!  Learners will look at two images and click on the one that is best for our environment. 

Explore concepts like reusable items, recycling, renewable energy, conservation, and more!  Play a sample for free! 

Boom Learning digital task cards for spring Boom Cards.  Students will look at two options and choose the one that is environmentally friendly and helpful in saving our planet.

Trash to Treasure Art

You know the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  Well, in this case, we’re putting that into practice! 

Either collect some recyclable materials yourself, or have your students bring them in from home.  Then, they can use those materials to create works of art! 

Your kids can get creative with their materials by making a collage, sculpture, mobiles, paintings, or even paper mache! 

A child sorting through recycled paper and cardboard to reuse the materials for an art project.

Environmental Action Plan

Knowledge doesn’t mean as much if we’re not applying what we’ve learned. 

Have students brainstorm ideas for how they can make a positive impact on the environment and create an action plan with specific goals and tasks.

This empowers students to take ownership of their environmental efforts and put their knowledge into practice!

Girl drawing and writing about what she can do to help save our planet Earth

Earth Day Posters

Not only is designing Earth Day posters a fun and creative project, it also helps students practice organizing information and communicating effectively. 

They get an opportunity to plan and present their ideas clearly, using the words and images of their choice.

Girl painting an Earth Day poster

Making posters can also be a collaborative activity.  This can help your kids learn how to compromise, delegate tasks, and communicate effectively with their classmates.

Once completed, posters can be displayed in the classroom, hallway, or school library to raise awareness about protecting our environment!

Earth Day Craft

Northing wraps up a unit better than a fun craft!  These differentiated, Earth Day writing crafts are easy to assemble and a great way to assess your students on what they’ve learned.  

Earth Day crafts displayed on a bulletin board

Students can brainstorm ways that they can take care of our Earth. Then, they can trace, write or draw their ideas on heart shaped pieces.

Meaningfully display these crafts on your bulletin board, door, classroom, or hallway! 

Materials:

  • Paper or cardstock
  • Scissors
  • Gluesticks
  • Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
  • Holepunch (optional)
  • String or yarn (optional)
Materials for making an Earth Day craft: crayons, markers, glue stick, hole-punch, scissors, string

Watch this video to learn how to make each craft step by step!

Nature Journaling

“We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.” -Albert Einstein

With screen time at an all time high, it’s more important than ever to connect with nature. Nature is the perfect place to use all our five senses to soak in the beauty all around us.  

Child journaling and writing about nature outside

If you’re able, bring your students outside to observe and sketch plants, animals, and natural landscapes. Encourage them to write descriptions or reflections in their nature journals.

Connecting with nature has also been shown to have a calming effect on the mind and can leave your kiddos in an excellent headspace to focus when they get back into the classroom!

Outdoor Yoga and Meditation

Another outdoor activity to try is a yoga or meditation session, surrounded by nature. 

This activity promotes mindfulness and appreciation for the natural world.  It has also been shown to help reduce stress, improve mood, and regulate emotions. 

Children meditating or doing yoga outside in nature

Just spending a couple minutes listening to the sounds of nature or doing some light stretching can be an extremely beneficial brain break.

If you’re unable to get outside, opening windows to let fresh air in, playing nature sounds, or providing real pictures of nature can help too!

Balancing Core Subjects

When you’re trying to fit in all of the core curriculum subjects, squeezing in Earth Day lessons can sometimes be challenging. 

With these worksheets, you won’t have to sacrifice any of your core subject curriculum.  They are packed with a variety of math literacy, social studies, and science skills that you can use in your centers, for early finishers, in your sub tub, as independent seatwork, or for extra practice!

Differentiated, printable worksheets for Earth Day.  Math, literacy, reading, writing, science, and social studies skills included.

Upcycled Bird Feeders

One important way that we can help save our planet is by reusing discarded materials to create something new and even better than the original! 

A creative way to do this is by having students make bird feeders from recycled materials.  Once made, you send them home to families or hang them outside the classroom window.

This activity encourages students to care for wildlife while promoting recycling. Sounds like a win, win to me!

Birds eating out of bird feeders made from recycled materials

Earth Day Coloring

Having print and go coloring pages at the ready is a great way to help your students learn how to take care of our Earth, while practicing literacy, science, art, and fine motor skills!  

You can use these for centers, early finishers, sub tub, independent seatwork, or extra practice!  It also comes with a cover page so that your students can create an individual or class Earth Day booklet! 

You can display the finished pages on your classroom bulletin board, door, or hallway!

Printable Earth Day coloring pages or sheets  for kids

Write the Room Activity

Do your students have the spring time wiggles? 

Incorporating movement activities throughout the day is a fun way for students to release energy, leaving them calmer and more focused.  Plus, they get to practice vocabulary, spelling, writing, and drawing! 

You can use these write the room activities during literacy centers, as a whole group, in small groups, for partner work, enrichment activities, or word walls!  Did I mention it’s completely FREE! 

Free, printable Earth Day write the room activities that are differentiated

Ways to Use:

☑ Students will have fun walking around the room to find the Earth Day themed cards. Then, they match it by picture or number (depending on which game style you have chosen for your students) to the corresponding word on the response sheet. They will then trace, write, or draw that word on their recording sheet.

☑ Cards can also be placed in a container for individualized instruction, or added to your literacy center! Simply print and laminate for lasting durability.

☑ The vocabulary flashcards can also be used to create a word wall, play matching, “go fish”, or memory games, as writing prompts etc.

Young child holding a plant and dirt outside in nature

I hope these Earth Day activities gave you a few fun ideas to incorporate into your classroom! If you do, you can make my day by tagging me on Instagram! 

I love seeing your lessons in action!  And remember, we can continue to celebrate Earth Day every day by nurturing a love and respect for our planet in our young learners!

Also, if you’re looking to save over 50% off of ready-made, high quality Earth Day activities, you can check out this bundle!

save money with a bundle button
Growing Earth Day activities bundle

Wishing you and your kiddos a happy Earth Day!

Talk soon,

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Affiliate Disclaimer:

This article, along with other articles on Kimberly’s Classroom, may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through the link, I earn a small commission.  Clicking these links does not cost you extra, but does help this website to keep great tips and freebies coming your way. Thank you!

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Filed Under: Art, Bingo, Books, Bundles, Charts, Coloring, Crafts, Flashcards, Games, Hands-On, Holidays, Literacy, Math, Movement, Posters, Read Alouds, Reading, Science, Seasons, Sorting, Task Cards, Uncategorized, Write the Room, Writing Tagged With: activities, animal report, arctic animals, bingo, bird feeders, boom cards, centers, coloring pages for kids, conservation, crafts, digital task cards, early childhood, early elementary, earth day, earth day activities, earth day activities for kids, earth day books, earth day bundle, Earth day coloring, earth day ideas, earth day resources, earth science, education, elementary, elementary school, environmental science, fifth grade, first grade, fourth grade, homeschool activities, kids activities, kindergarten, learning, meditation for kids, nature, nature walk, ocean animals, parts of a plant, protect our earth, reading, recycle, recycling, reduce, reuse, save our planet, second grade, sixth grade, spring, spring activities, teaching, third grade, upcycle, upper elementary, water, worksheets, write the room, writing, yoga for kids

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