Teach your kids about Earth Day with fun and free Earth Day activities for kids. There are activities for kids of all ages and there are plenty to keep them busy all day.
Earth Day happens every year on April 22nd. It started in 1970 to help make people aware of the state of the planet. Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas and industry was polluting our air with little thought about the consequences.
Senator Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin, helped create the first Earth Day out of concern for the environment in the United States.
A massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California was the tipping point for Senator Nelson. He was inspired by the anti-war movement to create teach-ins on college campuses. Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, was his co-chair. They also recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the teach-ins.
Earth Day has grown ever since and is now a day when we celebrate our planet and talk about ways we can help improve it. It’s also a great time to learn and especially to teach kids the importance of taking care of our planet.
Earth Day Activities for Kids
Learning about Earth Day and our planet doesn’t have to be boring. There are a lot of fun Earth Day activities you can do with your kids to help them learn about climate change, recycling, local food, pollution, and all of the other issues our planet faces.
These are some ideas that you can use this Earth Day. Some activities are perfect for any age, even older kids who may not want to do arts and crafts activities.
- Make seed balls to give to friends.
- Color an Earth Day coloring sheet.
- Read The Lorax and make some fun Lorax crafts.
- Go on an Earth Day scavenger hunt.
- Play a recycling sorting game.
- Set up your own home recycling center.
- Watch Disneynature films.
- Read an Earth Day book.
- Pick up trash in the neighborhood.
- Plant some native wildflowers.
- Fill out pages in an Earth Day activity book.
- Make an earth sun catcher.
- Make a bird feeder.
- Start a vegetable garden.
- Make a terrarium.
- Learn about the plant life cycle stages.
- Visit a farmer’s market and learn about local food.
- Go on a nature walk.
- Go on an I Spy pollinator scavenger hunt.
- Play recycling bingo.
- Fill out an Earth Day drawing book.
- Make your own love bug recycled craft.
- Make homemade seed paper.
- Make a bug hotel.
- Make your own butter and talk about why local food is important.
- Create beautiful earth paintings with newspaper.
- Learn about the layers of the earth with a fun craft.
- Do a polar ice caps experiment.
- Make Earth Day recycled crayons.
- Make Earth Day slime.
You can also check to see the Earth Day activities happening around Oklahoma. Universities often have activities for the whole family. Farmer’s markets also sometimes have fun things going on around Earth Day.
The most important thing is to take some time this Earth Day and learn about the issues facing our planet and what you can do to help.
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