Earth Day Activities for the Busy Teacher

Earth Day is an ideal time to introduce important concepts to your students to develop their environmental literacy skills. Earth day activities such as nature walks, recycling campaigns, reuseable art pieces, planting trees and learning to compost are excellent ways to educate students on the value of protecting our earth. Wondering what easy Earth Day activities to try with your class?

These simple hands-on Earth Day activities will help you get started to celebrate Earth Day with your students. Anyone can learn how to help the planet! Earth day activities can be done in all classes from kindergarten to high school.

If you are celebrating Earth Day with your students this year, you are joining a community of people who love the earth.

What is Earth Day?

Earth day is about teaching younger generations ways that they can help the earth, make a difference and have an impact on the future.

Are you looking for a quick earth day activities to use in your class? Watch this video for a short introduction to how Earth Day started and it’s impact:

April 22, 2021 is the 51st anniversary of Earth Day. The theme is Restore our Earth and there are 5 pillars. One pillar is sharing earth day activities with students to provide high-quality education and to improve environmental literacy. Want to know more about Earth Day.org? Their mission is, “…to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day in 1970, EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 75,000 partners in over 190 countries to drive positive action for our planet.” Visit EarthDay.org to learn more!

Writing Prompts for Earth Day

If you want to get started talking about the earth try these writing prompts for Earth Day discussions. Simply project the prompt and have students either write in their journals or discuss in small groups. Writing prompts or discussion prompts are useful for finding out what students already know about a subject or to activate their prior knowledge on earth day.

Scavenger Hunt Action!

Yet another great last minute idea to try with your students is a scavenger hunt. No-prep needed! My students love scavenger hunts and my favourite thing about them is that it works in the virtual environment, too.

Try this earth day scavenger hunt with your students this Earth day.

Earth Day Fun for Kindergarten

Younger students love to explore and do hands-on activities. Check out these Nature Viewers in the Outdoor Learning Hub Shop.

There are many ways that nature viewers can be used. Here are a few examples:

1. Set the nature viewers on a nature table and let students use them as tools.

2. Go on a nature walk and see if students can match the environment to the correct nature viewer.

3. Have students go to their SitSpot to make observations using their nature viewer. Students can then write about what they notice with all of their sense in their nature journal.

4. Use the black and white printable nature viewers for students to use at home. Get families involved in outdoor learning, too!

More Outdoor Learning Activities

Ultimately, there is no end to what you can do to learn more about our planet. Here is a brief list that might help you get started:

Make a seed bomb
Go on a nature walk
Pick up litter
Plant a tree
Plant a garden
Make a bug hotel
Learn about recycling in your city
Set up a compost heap
Reuse material to make a craft
Go bird watching
Make a bird feeder
Stay on the path when you go hiking
Get a rainbarrel to water your plants
Start a nature journal

What else would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments below.

Tagged Earth Day, Earth day activities, Nature Viewers, Scavenger Hunt