Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22nd and it’s a great opportunity to teach kids about the importance of protecting our planet.
There are many Earth Day activities for kids that can help them to learn about the environment and how they can make a difference in preserving it. These activities can be fun, educational, and help promote a sense of responsibility towards our planet.
In this article, you’ll find some toddler and preschool Earth Day activities that we already tried out with our kids. These are engaging, and informative and help create a greater awareness of environmental issues.
Earth Day Craft – Puffy Paint
This is an easy-to-make craft material that kids love to use for various art projects. The paint has a unique texture and appearance that makes it stand out from other types of paint. Puffy paint is made using a few simple ingredients that are easily available in most households.
It’s a great activity for kids to engage in on Earth Day to create art while also being eco-friendly, as the ingredients used to make puffy paint are non-toxic and safe for the environment.
What Will You Need?
- Print our free Earth Day coloring pages
- Shaving foam
- School glue
- Green and blue paint
- Paintbrush
What to Do?
Start by printing out our Earth Day coloring page. Mix equal parts of school glue and shaving foam in a bowl. Mix it well until it becomes fluffy and smooth.
Using a paintbrush, spread the puffy paint mixture over the Planet Earth template. Make sure to cover the entire template with an even layer of puffy paint and let it dry completely. This may take a few hours, depending on how thick the paint is.
Earth Day Colored Rice Sensory Art
What Will You Need?
- White rice
- Ziploc bags
- Green and blue food coloring
- Earth printables (simple for toddlers or detailed for older kids)
- Glue
- Paintbrush
- Tray or large sheet of paper for catching excess rice
What to Do?
Put a cup of rice in a Ziploc bag and add a few drops of green food coloring. Shake the bag until the rice is evenly colored. Repeat with blue food coloring and another cup of rice. Pour the colored rice out onto a tray or large sheet of paper and allow it to dry completely.
Print out the Earth printables. You can use a simple Earth for toddlers or a more detailed Earth for older kids.
Apply glue to the continents on the Earth printable using a paintbrush. Sprinkle green rice onto the glue, making sure to cover all of the continents. Repeat gluing and sprinkling to the seas and oceans with the blue rice.
When everything is finished, gently lift up the paper, so the excess rice can come off and the Earth printables are left with a beautiful colored rice design.
Celebrate Earth Day with Salt Dough Map
Salt dough is a simple and versatile craft material that can be made using just a few basic ingredients, including flour, salt, and water. It’s also a great activity for Earth Day, as it’s made from all-natural ingredients and doesn’t require any harmful chemicals. Kids can have fun creating different shapes and designs with salt dough while learning about the importance of sustainability and eco-friendliness.
What Will You Need?
- Salt dough
- Cardboard
- Paint and paintbrush
- Clear tape or clear transfer paper
- Sharpie (optional)
Instructions
Start by cutting a piece of cardboard into the desired shape and size for your map. Use a Sharpie to draw the outline of the continents on the cardboard. Cover the cardboard with clear tape or adhesive foil to make it waterproof and durable.
Make the dough according to our salt dough recipe no bake. Kids need to press the dough onto the cardboard with their fingers, covering all of the continents and smoothing it out evenly.
Let the dough dry completely. This may take several hours or overnight, it depends on the thickness of the dough.
Once the dough is dry, it’s time to paint the continents. Use different colors of paint to represent each continent. You can use a map or globe as a reference for the colors.
Earth Day Oobleck – Messy Earth Day Projects
What Will You Need?
- Blue and green food coloring
- Oobleck (find recipes here)
- Sensory tray
What to Do?
This is a fun and messy sensory activity to celebrate Earth Day with. Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid that behaves both like a liquid and a solid, which makes it a fascinating substance for kids to play with. We made oobleck from different materials using baking soda or other methods without cornstarch.
You need to make blue and green colored oobleck. Once it’s done, pour the blue oobleck into a deeper sensory tray then add the continents by pouring in the green one in patches. And the Earth is done.
Now, it’s time to play with the Oobleck! You can encourage children to explore the texture and properties of the Oobleck. They can try to pick it up like a solid, only to watch it melt into a liquid in their little hands again.
As children play, you can use this opportunity to discuss the importance of taking care of the Earth. You can talk about ways to reduce waste, conserve energy, and protect natural habitats.
When you’re done playing with the Oobleck, dispose of it in the trash or compost bin. Do not pour it down the drain, as it can clog pipes.
Snail Habitat – A Responsible Earth Day Activity
Creating a Snail Habitat as an Earth Day activity is more than a great idea. Children can learn about the importance of preserving biodiversity, understand the role of snails in the ecosystem, and develop a sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
What Will You Need?
- An old box
- Nylon ripstop fabric
- Soil
- Dandelion
- Moss
- Rocks
- Strawberries
- Water to keep the soil moist (spray water bottle)
What to Do?
Snails are fascinating creatures that children find interesting. They love to observe their slow and steady movements and explore their unique anatomy, from their shells to their tentacles and eyes. Eniko, recognizing Lara’s interest in snails, decided to create a habitat for the snail they found in their garden.
She selected an old box for the snail’s new home, making sure it was spacious enough for the snail to move around comfortably. To make the box waterproof, Eniko lined it with a nylon ripstop fabric.
Next, Lara spaded soil into the box and planted some dandelion, which is a favorite food for snails. She added moss, rocks, and some other plants to create a natural-looking environment for the snail. This way, the snail would have everything it needed to thrive, from food to shelter and a comfortable place to rest.
The snail’s new home also included strawberries, which the snail would enjoy as a treat. They both made sure to spray some water in the box to keep the soil moist, which is essential for the snail’s survival. They checked on the snail frequently to make sure it was healthy and happy in its new home.
Water Pollution and the Process of Water Filtration – Earth Day Science Activity
This Earth Day activity can help demonstrate how pollution can harm the planet’s most precious resource, water, and how simple steps like filtration can help to purify it.
By educating people about the impact of pollution on the environment and encouraging them to take steps to prevent it, we can help preserve the planet’s natural resources for future generations.
Access to clean water is a privilege that many of us take for granted. It’s essential for our health and well-being, but unfortunately, clean water is a global issue. Water pollution affects not only the environment but also the people and animals that rely on it. We must appreciate the value of water.
To help children understand the importance of clean water, we can conduct an experiment that demonstrates the effects of water pollution and the process of water filtration on Earth Day.
What Will You Need?
- Plastic Container
- Coffee filters
- Funnel
- Clear bowls
- Plastic bottle
- Sand/soil
- “Trash” items such as plastic, cardboard, or tin cans
What to Do?
Represent water pollution in a plastic container by adding sand or soil to clear water. Dump in some “trash” items of your choice to simulate pollution.
Prepare four bowls next to your bin. Add a coffee filter to the funnel and put it in the bottle’s mouth.
Begin the filtration experiment by pouring the polluted water through the filter once and adding it to cup 1. Clear the filter twice and add the water to cup 2. Clear it three times and add it to cup 3, and four times to cup 4.
Observe the difference in the clarity of the water in each cup. The water becomes clearer with each filtration, but it’s a long process to get clean water.
Wonderful Wiggly Worms – Toddler’s Mother Earth Activity
This activity can be used as an opportunity to teach children about the importance of soil and its role in supporting life on planet Earth. By playing with an edible version of soil and worms, children can gain a basic understanding of the food chain and the role that soil plays in producing food and sustaining ecosystems.
This activity is perfect for kids who love to get their hands messy and explore new textures.
Edible mud and worm pie is a great way to engage your child’s senses while promoting imaginative play. The mud feels squishy and slimy, while the worms provide a wriggly sensation.
What will you need?
What to Do?
Mix cocoa powder with water, then add ground biscuits and mix it till it resembles a mud.
Cook the spaghetti, then cut it into small pieces to resemble worms. Add the spaghetti worms to the bowl of mud.
Let your child play with the edible mud and worm pie sensory play tray. They can use their hands or tweezers to catch the worms. My kids were competing who had the longest.
BEE Creative and Celebrate Earth Day
This activity teaches children about the importance of bees in our ecosystem. Bees play a crucial role in pollination and help maintain the balance of our planet’s biodiversity.
By learning about bees and their role in producing honey, children can become more aware of the interconnectedness of nature and the need to protect it.
The Easth Day activity also promotes fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as children use the pipette to fill the honeycomb.
Additionally, the breakfast recipe using honey can be a way to highlight the importance of supporting local beekeepers and purchasing sustainably produced honey.
It can also be an opportunity to talk about the importance of using natural, locally sourced ingredients in our food to reduce our carbon footprint and support sustainable agriculture.
What will you need?
How to play?
Color the water with yellow food coloring to make the nectar. Put the legos on the tray to represent the honeycomb. Invite your child to fill the honeycomb with nectar using a pipette.
Breakfast recipe
You can toast the bread. Spread with butter, then top with the honey.
Tree Faces Made By Kids – A Perfect Outdoor Earth Day Craft
While you are on your nature walk with your kids, don’t just do bird watching. There are endless possibilities outside for Earth Day activities and crafts all year round.
Tree Faces is a fun and creative Earth Day craft that we tried out last year for the first time. It allows kids to personalize trees in a unique way. It’s a great opportunity to discuss with children how trees and plants play an important role in our ecosystem and provide us with oxygen and other resources that we need to survive.
Reflections on the Earth Day Activities for Kids
Earth Day is a great opportunity to teach young kids about the importance of protecting our planet. There are many educational and fun activities that can help kids develop an appreciation for the environment while having fun.
Some examples of fun Earth Day activities for kids include making an oobleck to learn about water conservation. Earth Day crafts include a salt dough map to teach kids about geography and puffy paint planet Earth to learn about the importance of recycling. Making edible mud and worm pie engage kids interested in their senses and promote imaginative play.
Other activities that can be done on Earth Day include building a bee-themed sensory play tray and even making a breakfast recipe using honey. Creating a filtration experiment to teach about water pollution is also an engaging activity.
By engaging in these Earth Day activities, we can teach kids about sustainability, environmental responsibility, and ways they can make a positive impact on the planet. It’s important to instill these values early on and encourage love and respect for the natural world.
