April is the perfect time for celebrating nature and the beauty of our planet. Also, it is the perfect time to remind our students of our responsibilities to keep our planet healthy. Why not incorporate some fun Earth Day activities for elementary students to help learn more about taking care of our Earth?
My family and I live on a small farm, and a big part of farm life is striving to be good stewards of the land. We strive to take care of the earth, conserve, and do our part in preserving our beautiful world.
Encouraging students to change their habits to keep our planet healthy and beautiful is important, whether it is in April or anytime during the school year.
Continue reading below to grab the Earth Day Freebie!
Earth Day Activities for Elementary Students
Are you looking for some simple Earth Day activities for elementary students? Here are some simple and easy ideas that are not only great for April and Earth Day, but are also perfect for any time of the year when you are studying ecology, protecting the environment, or “reduce, reuse, and recycle”. Also, don’t forget to download the Earth Day Freebie below to use with your class.
1. Acts of Environmental Kindness
Ask permission from your administration for your class to participate in acts of environmental kindness around your school campus. Take 15 or 20 minutes to do one or more of the following activities.
- Pick up trash around your school.
- Water a flower garden at your school.
- Plant flowers around your campus.
- Set up a recycle bin.
2. Plant a Tree or Flowers with Your Students
Organize a tree planting activity in the schoolyard or local park, or plant flowers around your school.
3. Nature Walk Poetry
Take your elementary students on a nature walk to observe and appreciate the beauty of the Earth. Students may take a notebook or journal to jot down ideas as they walk. Then return to the classroom to use these observations to write poetry.
4. Poetry: Earth Day Activities for Elementary Students
Do your students need a little inspiration for writing poems for Earth Day? Use this Earth Day Poetry Packet to inspire students to write and create a variety of types of poems. Encourage students to write about the beauty of our Earth with this Earth Day Poetry Packet filled with 20 poetry templates. Students may write a variety of types of poems from haiku to acrostics.
5. Encourage Simple Changes for the Environment with these Earth Day Activities for Elementary Students
Encourage students to conserve our Earth’s resources. Discuss simple changes that students can make to help our earth.
- Take shorter showers.
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
- Plant trees, plants, and flowers with your family.
- Place a trash bag in your family vehicle and encourage everyone to use it instead of throwing trash out of the windows.
6. Earth Day Pledge for the Classroom
Have students write pledges about how they will help protect the environment. You can then display these in the classroom.
7. Earth Day Freebie for Your Classroom
Encourage students to make changes to help the environment with this Earth Day freebie for your classroom. Students can document their environmental acts of kindness for one week, write a poem to celebrate Earth Day, and even sign a pledge to help the environment.
Also included are reward tags for Earth Day. Use these reward tags for students who document their environmental acts of kindness or simply give each student a reward tag as a reminder to take care of our earth.
8. Recycled Art
Using art in your classroom can be fun for Earth Day activities for elementary students. Gather recycled materials such as egg cartons, bottle caps, scraps of fabric, and cardboard, or ask students to bring these items from home. Discuss the importance of recycling and how it helps reduce waste. Ask students to brainstorm ideas and use one or more of these items to create a piece of art. Students may also use scissors, markers, glue, paint, etc. to create the artwork. Display the recycled art in the hallway or classroom.
9. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Collage
Provide students with poster boards to create collages to illustrate the concepts of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
10. More Great Earth Day Activities for Upper Elementary
Try this fun Earth Day Packet filled with simple and fun Earth Day activities for elementary students. This resource is filled with simple and easy-to-use activities that are perfect for Earth Day. Find activities for reducing, reusing, and recycling, Earth Day posters and coloring pages, Earth Day writing activities, as well as Earth Day-themed grammar activities.
This packet includes Earth Day-themed print-and-go language arts activities and activities centered around Earth Day. 15 fun and easy printables for your reading, language, or science classes are included. Review skills such as adjectives, grammar, synonyms, and antonyms, with these fun Earth Day activities. Create an environmental bumper sticker or color reduce/reuse/recycle posters. This easy-to-use packet is just what you need this spring. Get yours HERE.
To find more spring ideas for your classroom, check out this blog post on 7 Great Spring Poetry Writing Activities.
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Have a blessed day!
