There are many meaningful & fun ways to teach students about the importance of taking care of the Earth and showing them they can each make a difference! Here are just a few of the ways you can celebrate Earth Day with your class.
Integrate earth day activities across subjects
During reading, read books about Earth Day and ways to take care of the Earth to introduce concepts. This adapted and Interactive Earth Day book is great for students who need visual supports and a hands on element.
Or try one of these books (affiliate links):
The Earth Book is great for highlighting the little things we can do to make a big impact.
The book, Earth Ninja, is a fun way to talk about what happens when we are lazy and don’t take care of the earth.
For writing, have students make posters to hang up around school after listing & brainstorming ways people can help care for the Earth.
Use Boom Learning Earth Day word problems to practice addition, subtraction and money skills.
There are many ways to integrate Earth Day related experiments & activities into science.
- Grow seeds and teach about gardening
- Teach students about composting food and how it can be used in gardens
- After teaching about food composting, teach about how plastics don’t break down the same way
- Help students understand the water cycle and the environment
The more we can immerse our students in the topic, the more they will start to see the importance of caring for the Earth and that they really can do things that make a difference.
Practice Reusing Items
My students LOVE to do crafts, so adding in Earth Day crafts is always a must! Try doing a craft that only uses upcycled/recycled materials. Your students could even help find things at home or around the classroom or school that they could use in their project.
You could make Earth Day slime or playdough that the students could take home with them. Crafts that teach them about the life cycle of a plant or how the water cycle works are great too. The possibilities are endless!
Explore nature
What better way to teach them about our planet than to get them outside exploring nature, digging in the dirt, or helping to clean up?! Here are examples for exploring nature:
- Take a nature walk around your school. Have students look, listen, smell (and maybe touch) things in the environment as they go.
- Have students clean up any litter around the school… make sure they wear gloves and don’t pick up anything sharp.
- Start a small garden at your school for everyone to enjoy. Kids love to get dirty and what better way to learn how things grow than doing it hands on!
- Have kids raise or save money and plant a tree at the school on Earth Day. For example, collect and return bottles, bake sale, etc.
Anything that gets the kids outside and involved in nature is a GREAT way to celebrate Earth Day!!!
No matter what you do, make sure students get to experience our planet and nature and build a passion for helping Earth all year long.
