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Earth Day is nearly upon us, and with it comes fun opportunities to teach children about our planet and how they can protect it for generations to come. Since kids learn best by playing and getting their hands dirty, they’ll flip for these hands-on Earth Day activities — and they’ll have so much fun coloring, cutting, baking, planting and creating that they won’t even realize they’re learning.
A few fun facts to share with your kids: The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, which means it’s celebrating its 54th anniversary this year! It was an idea conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after he witnessed the aftermath of an oil spill in California. It took 20 years, but in 1990, this American observance went global — and now Earth Day is celebrated by, well, people all around the earth. Approximately one billion people in more than 190 countries observe Earth Day, although in many other parts of the world it’s known as “International Mother Earth Day.”
Gather up your art supplies and prepare to be amazed at the beauty — and simplicity — of these Earth Day craft projects for kids. Or participate in a live or virtual Earth Day event. Either way, you’re showing the next generation how important it is to take care of our planet … and how good it feels to do good things!
Build a Terrarium
With a simple, self-sustaining DIY-terrarium, your kiddos can experience firsthand the process of how rainfall works (and what elements plants need to thrive!). PBS Kids for Parents has a quick and easy tutorial outlining everything you’ll need to create your own indoor micro-environment at home!
Yarn Earth Activity
Grab blue, green and brown yarn, glue, scissors, wax paper and a bowl, and let kids get their hands dirty while creating a colorful yarn mosaic tribute to Mother Earth. Made with Happy provides a simple step-by-step guide to mastering this DIY globe — which can be hung up and displayed by the window and will inspire you to engage in all kinds of fascinating conversations about the planet.
Wildflower Seed Bombs
Wildflowers aren’t just beautiful and fragrant — they are absolutely critical to the enviroment too! They provide a habitat for crucial pollinators, improve soil health, and food for wildlife, just to name a few. WeAreTeachers has a cute and super-simple craft, using only recycled paper and wildflower seeds, that’s not only fun to make but beneficial to Mother Earth as well. (To find out which wildflowers are native to your area, click here!)
DIY Earth Day Tree Tee
What’s better than creating wearable art with your kids while enjoying the Great Outdoors? DIY Earth Day tree T-shirts can be easily made using fabric paint in brown and green, a piece of cardboard, sponge paintbrushes, baby wipes (for quick clean-ups) and a prewashed white T-shirt — and who doesn’t have one of those kicking around? You needn’t even know how to paint happy little trees to get started. Your child’s forearm serves as the perfect tree trunk model and their little hands are ideal branches and leaves.
DIY Recycling Center
Help your children create their very own colorful and fun recycling center, which doubles as an art station, with amazing tips from HandmadeCharlotte. Before you throw away used milk cartons, consider repurposing them to store colored pencils, markers and crayons — or turn small juice cartons and plastic bottle caps into toy cars. Their personal recycling center is the perfect place for children to store all of their supplies for future artistic expression.
Earth Day Rice Krispies Pops
There’s just something more fun about eating anything on a stick — and these Earth Day Rice Krispies pops are no exception. Blue food coloring and green icing create mini globes and lollipop sticks allowyour kids to tote these around while making minimal mess. Bake-free desserts are always welcome when the weather heats up.
Earth Day Pendant Necklaces
Don’t even think about throwing away all of that annoying junk mail you receive — those colorful papers and envelopes make for beautiful pendant necklaces, as Michele Made Me proves to us. Using circle pendants cut out from cereal boxes, string, glue and piles of junk mail, kids can make cool, artsy necklaces and rings for themselves and their friends, while learning about upcycled fashion.
“Visit” a National Park
If you can’t visit all of America’s glorious national parks in person, what better day than Earth Day to pay some of them a virtual visit? It’s the next-best thing! The National Park Foundation has links to virtual tours of over 10 iconic U.S. parks, including Yellowstone, Shenandoah, and Crater Lake.
Earth Day Ice Cream
Celebrate the Earth and its creepy inhabitants by surprising your kids with a DIY Earth Day ice cream treat — complete with the most delicious dirt (um, Oreo cookies) and gummy worms. Here’s your chance to remind your children just how important worms are to helping maintaina beautiful garden — assuming they can pull awayfrom their ice cream long enough to pay attention.
Upcycled T-Shirt Bag
Single-use plastic is harmful to the environment — so ditch those grocery store plastic bags and whip up your very own reusable cloth bag using an old t-shirt! PBS Kids for Parents has an easy-to-follow tutorial (and luckily for those of us who aren’t that crafty, there’s zero sewing required!).
DIY Earth Day Crayons
Why use two separate green and blue crayons for all of your Earth Day art needs when you can combine the two and make Earth Day crayons? You’ll need to supervise your kids, as you’ll have to cut blue and green crayons into small pieces and an oven is needed to “bake” the shades together. The result is one super, megacrayon that resembles the planet and boasts a unique design.
Create a Nature Journal
Nature journaling is a great way to stop and appreciate the earth around you. Whether you draw, write, or paste in things like leaves or pictures from magazines, there’s no wrong way to do it! Oregon State University provides helpful tips for anyone (adults and kids alike!) who might want to start their own.
Earth Day Agamograph
The Earth Day agamograph craft created by Art with Jenny K., isn’t what it seems. Depending on the angle in which you view it, it can look like the planet or a recycling symbol. A second agamograph art project features images spliced together to show either the Earth or water drops transforming into a tree. Kids will love all of the creative cutting and coloring they’ll get to do, and parents will thank their lucky stars Jenny K. includes both video and written instructions for the project on her site. The final product looks incredibly impressive — and a lot more difficult to create than it really is (promise).
Have a Backyard “Staycation”
The best way to get close to nature is to immerse yourself in it, and you don’t even have to leave your house! If you’ve got a backyard and a tent (and maybe some s’more supplies!), you’re all set up for a “staycation.” Encourage your kids to explore, feel, reallyobserve the natural setting they usually take for granted, then cap off the night with some stargazing.
Candy-Filled Rice Krispies Treats
Most kids are crazy about Rice Krispies treats. Give them the Earth Day “treat”-ment by separating your Rice Krispies mixture intotwo “globes” (using identical-size bowls) and adding some blue food coloring for a sweet earthy effect. You can then fill your treatwith the candy of your choice and use green frosting to fashion continents on your Rice Krispiesglobe. The best part is, of course, the look on your kids’ faces when you cut into their candy Earth and even more treats come spilling out. Get the recipe here.
Make Your Own Paper
Using your old scrap paper, tissue paper — even paper towels! — you can create your own fresh sheets of recycled paper at home. It’s an excellent hands-on way to show kids the power of recycling! The American Museum of Natural History has a kid-friendly tutorial with photos.
Earth Day Cookies
These blue-and-green happy face Earth Day cookies are almost too cute to eat. Using just eight ingredients (and relying on sugar cookie mix, which will make those of us pressed for time sigh with relief), you can whip up these yummy treats in about 15 minutes. Green and blue food coloring create an Earth-inspired design. Click here for the recipe.
DIY Bird Feeder
Keep your fine feathered friends fat and happy — and let your family do some top-quality bird watching — by making your own bird feeder using a plastic bottle and a couple of wooden spoons. This tutorial from Nat Geo Kids shows you how!
Earth Day Promise Hands
Encourage your entire family to make a promise to the Earth with this fun Earth Day promise handsproject. Trace your child’s hand on a piece of paper, color it with green and blue crayons to resemble the Earth and cut around the hand outline. Next, draw a circle on another piece of paper, cut it out, and have your child write one thing he promises to do this year (recycle, plant a tree, etc.) before pasting the circle to the hand. Hang up all of the hands in a place in your house where you’ll be able to see them and remind one another of your new commitments.
Recycled-Paper Flower Magnets
Old magazines and magnets combine to make magic in this recycled-paper flower magnets craft. After cutting various-sized circles in the magazine paper, “petals” can be glued together, along with stick-on jewels and magnets, to make adorable floral magnets you can use on your fridge or memo board.
Earth Day Paper Plates
Children see the world in unique and often unexpected ways. Bring out their artistic sides and recycle old plates in the process by showing them a picture of the Earth, turning their plates wrong side up and asking them to use markers or paint to recreate exactly what they see in the picture. Earth Day paper plates can keep young children busy and provide older kids with a challenge: Just how accurately can they draw the continents,archipelagos and bodies of water?
Find an Earth Day Event
If you’re looking for a way to really get out there and make a difference, EarthDay.org makes it easy to find actual in-person Earth Day events happening near you with this convenient map! From rallies to cleanups, there’s something for everyone!
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