Fun & Easy Earth Day Activities

Kari Burch

Dr. Kari is an Occupational Therapist and Certified Transformational Parenting Coach. She loves following her heart and helping others do the same, especially when it comes to changing the way we parent the next generation of leaders and learners.

Earth day is a wonderful day to teach kids about a variety of topics relating to respecting and loving planet earth.  Here are a few fun and simple activities to try for all ages and interests to help your child grow their love of our world.

Recycled Art

Find trash or recyclable materials around your home you can use for a painting project. You can use items such as toilet or paper towel rolls, boxes, ribbon wheels, paper bags, and more. Use paper bags from the grocery store or a posterboard as the background. Dip the ends of the toilet or paper towel rolls in some paint and make circle shapes on the paper! 

You can talk about how you can repurpose trash or single use items, and give them a second life and use before throwing them away. 

• For young kids, stick with 1-2 items and show them how to use them.
• For older kids, let their creativity lead the way and have a game of seeing who can come up with the most ideas! 

​See examples and learn more about this idea from No Time for Flash Cards: Recycled Art For Earth Day - No Time For Flash Cards

Outside Observations

This one is simple but beautiful. Go outside and make observations about the earth and nature (even if it’s just in your yard!) Collect sticks and twigs, pine needles, or leaves. Collect small rocks. Notice different kids of weeds or flowers. Look for wildlife or signs of wildlife such as birds, squirrels, insects, or bugs.  You can talk about how all of these work together to make a beautiful planet. We are so lucky to have so much to look at outside! ​

Earth Day Play Dough

Did you know it's super simple to make your own homemade play dough? Try this recipe from Pre-K Pages!
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Along with green and blue play dough, find stones and twigs from outside. You can form the dough into land with trees (made with green dough for the leaves and twigs for the trunk). You can make the ocean with blue play dough or sculpting clay, and fill with fish made from play dough, seaweed made from green play dough, and stones for the bottom of the ocean. Here’s more inspiration: Earth Day Theme Play Dough for Preschool - Pre-K Pages. You can talk about how some animals live on land and some live in the water, even incorporating some of your kiddo's favorite books or tv show characters and identifying their habitats. Enjoy talking about the earth and all its diversity! 

Visit Your Local Library for Earth Day Activities
There are countless free community resources available locally for Earth Day, including at the library! Check out your local library or community center for Earth Day story times, art projects, and more. 

Litter Bug Jaunt
Take a little walk around your neighborhood and pick up trash. This is a great time to instill messages about littering and how to keep our earth clean and healthy. For older kids, you can teach about the principles of "Leave No Trace" to keep the planet free of the impact of our trash. 

Will you give one of these ideas a try? Report back and tell us how it went!  

P.S. We're raising money for sustainable initiatives including new outdoor play spaces and low waste materials. You can donate here.