Earth Day 2022 is Friday, April 22, and we’ve collected five Earth friendly activities for young children to help you educate while you celebrate!
Every April, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The holiday is now recognized in more than 193 countries by more than one billion people, and you can observe it at home with these activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
[Alt text: An Earth Day themed art illustration shows two paper hands holding a papier-mâché Earth with a paper heart above.]
What you’ll need:
- blue cardstock
- green and blue crepe paper
- green acrylic paint
- clothespin
- large pom-pom
- paper plate
- green cardstock paper
- scissors
- glue stick
- stapler
These Earth Day windsocks from iHeartCraftyThings are fun to create and to experiment with. Display them in front of an open window, and watch the streamers flutter in the breeze.
To create these Earth Day windsocks:
- Create a paintbrush by pinching a large pom-pom with a clothespin. Children can hold the “brush” by the clothespin, dipping the pom-pom in paint.
- Use the pom-pom brush and green paint stamped onto blue cardstock to create the land masses for your Earth-themed windsock.
- After your paper has dried completely, turn it over so the painted side is face down. Glue 18-inch strips of crepe paper – 3 blue strips and 5 green strips – to the bottom of your cardstock, overlapping the cardstock by a few inches so the crepe paper is secure.
- Connect the ends of the cardstock, creating a cylinder, for air to flow through, and secure with staples.
- Cut a 1-inch by 8.5-inch rectangle out of the green paper. Bending the paper into a rainbow shape, create a handle by attaching it to the inside of the windsock with glue.
Mess-Free Sensory Earth Painting
This Earth Day painting activity from Still Playing School is great fun for small hands and doesn’t require clean-up.
What you’ll need:
- Paper plate
- Gallon-sized plastic zip bags (wash and reuse to be eco-friendly!)
- Washable green and blue paint
For this activity, squeeze a few globs of green and blue paint onto a paper plate. Insert this into one of the plastic zip bags, and seal. Your child can squish and spread the paint through the plastic bag, keeping fingers clean and providing a fun sensory experience. When the plate is mostly covered in green and blue paint, remove it from the bag and allow it to dry. Your Earth Day art is complete!
[Alt text: A young girl picks wildflowers in a sunlit field. An Earth Day scavenger hunt encourages appreciation of the natural world and keeps kids active.]
Earth Day Scavenger Hunt
What you’ll need:
- Writing utensil and writing surface
- Optional: Colored pencils, crayons, or markers
A scavenger hunt is a great activity for children of all ages, and it’s a simple activity for caregivers to create. A scavenger hunt is a checklist of items for your child to find. Encourage your child to wander outdoors, looking for objects, insects, animals, and/or colors in nature!
For young children, include pictures of each item or color next to the word on the list. You can also help your child sound out each word. This activity is great for stimulating your child’s imagination and keeping them active!
This Earth Day activity from Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails is a great way to teach children the concept of recycling, while putting old, broken crayons to good use. Throughout this activity, talk to your children about the benefits of recycling for our environment.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Unwrapped, broken crayons in shades of green and blue
- Mini muffin pan
- Mini cupcake wrappers (not needed if you are using a nonstick silicone muffin pan)
Instructions:
- First, sort crayons into two bowls by color: green and blue. (Toddlers will love this part!)
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees and line a metal mini muffin pan (or use a silicone one).
- Put small crayon pieces into each muffin liner, filling each about halfway. Bake 15-20 minutes or until melted, checking frequently.
- Once melted, remove crayons from the oven and allow to cool at least one hour before removing from the pan. Use your new crayons to color some Earth-themed coloring pages!
Earth Art – Three Ways
Create colorful, sensory Earth Day art with young children using tissue paper, shaving cream, and paint. View the video below to see the start-to-finish process to create three types of Earth art!
Tissue Paper Earth
What you’ll need:
- Round plate or other circular object
- Sheet of paper
- Pencil
- Blue tissue paper
- Green tissue paper
- Glue
Shaving Cream Earth
What you’ll need:
- Round plate or other circular object
- Sheet of paper
- Pencil
- Glue
- Shaving cream
- Blue food coloring
- Green food coloring
- Popsicle stick or foam paint brush
Finger Paint Earth
What you’ll need:
- Round plate or other circular object
- Sheet of paper
- Pencil
- Blue finger paint
- Green finger paint
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