These eco-friendly activities and craft ideas will spark your kids’ creativity and pass on valuable Earth Day lessons about caring for our planet.
As a homeschooling mom, I’m able to plan a few of these eco-friendly activities at home throughout Earth Day week, but many of them work great for students in school too!
Let’s explore these fun and educational Earth Day projects that your kids will enjoy through purposeful play.
Eco-friendly Earth Day Activities for Kids
Nature Scavenger Hunt Explore the outdoors! Take your kids on a nature scavenger hunt in your local park or backyard. Create a list of items related to nature, such as pinecones, flowers, leaves, and rocks. This activity encourages observation and allows children to connect with the environment around them. Not able to make it outside? This indoor Earth Day scavenger hunt template is easy to prep and kids have a blast searching for the Earth Day words hidden around the room.
See more Earth Day printables here.
Start Seeds
Grab some dirt, containers, and seeds and teach kids about plants. Choose flower, herb, or vegetable seeds. Some of the easiest plants to grow from seed for kids are basil, beans, lettuce, marigolds, radishes, and squash.
Talk about the importance of plants in our ecosystem and the role they play. Then, watch as your kids eagerly nurture their seeds into sprouts. This hands-on activity connects kids to their natural world.
Create a Wildflower Pollinator Garden
Teach kids about the importance of pollinators by creating a wildflower pollinator garden. Find a section of your yard to turn into a garden and sprinkle wildflower seeds on top of the soil or plant native plants for your area.
Native wildflowers contribute to local biodiversity, provide food for pollinators, and help pollinate gardens in your area.
Make a DIY Bird Feeder for Kids
Treat your backyard birds with a homemade bird feeder. We have made a lot of DIY bird feeders and the easiest and most fun for young kids is using pinecones.
Simply add peanut butter to the pinecone and roll it in birdseed. Hang the feeder in your garden or from a tree and watch for local birds to visit your yard. These DIY bird feeders are easy to make and fun for kids.
See any birds you don’t know the name of? We recommend the Merlin Bird ID app.
Share Earth Day Storytime
Find age-appropriate books at your local library that focus on environmental themes and read them aloud to your children.
Follow up with a discussion about the stories and their lessons. We often chat about this as we’re doing a follow up craft or drawing activity that relates to the story.
Reading Earth Day stories improves literacy skills and sparks meaningful conversations about the Earth and sustainability.
Nature Journal
Equip your kids with a notebook and pencil and help them start a nature journal. For even more fun, have them create their own DIY nature journals. Kids can decorate their journals with leaves, flowers, and twigs, and then use them to document their outdoor adventures.
Encourage your kids to sketch the things they see and feel, such as plants, insects, and the weather. Nature journaling helps children see the details in things around them and develop a deeper awareness and connection to their surroundings.
Eco-friendly Earth Day Crafts for Kids
Make an Earth Day Poster
Spend an afternoon making posters or coloring pages centered around Earth Day themes. Provide art supplies and encourage kids to create posters that focus on messages about the Earth and sustainability.
Display the posters on an Earth Day bulletin board or on the refrigerator to showcase your kids' commitment to a greener planet.
Trash to Treasure Crafts
Set up a craft station with recyclable materials like cardboard boxes, paper rolls, and bottle caps. Encourage kids to unleash their creativity by turning these items into works of art. This not only teaches them about the importance of reusing items but also showcases the beauty in repurposed materials.
Handprint Earth Art
Create a beautiful Earth Day keepsake by making handprint Earth art. Dip your kids’ hands in blue and green paint and then press them onto paper to form a globe.
Show kids a map of the Earth and point to the continents and oceans. Then, talk about why it is important to take care of our planet.
Recycled Magazine Art
Turn old magazines into a colorful collage that shows the beauty of Earth's landscapes. Children cut out pictures of nature, animals, green spaces, and water, then arrange them into a beautiful collage. Discuss the importance of preserving the environment for future generations.
Earth Day Pledge
This Earth Day Pledge activity is perfect for students in the classroom and at home for the whole family.
Draw a large tree on poster board or cardboard.
Cut out the leaves. Each leaf represents a personal Earth Day pledge.
Write your pledge, such as conserving water, reducing waste, or planting trees onto the leaves.
Attach the leaves to the tree.
Decorate Reusable Shopping Bags
Say NO to single use plastics and encourage your kids to use eco-friendly products.
For Earth Day this year, decorate reusable shopping bags that they can use throughout the year. Kids can use fabric markers or paint to create their favorite designs on plain reusable bags.
We like these 100% cotton canvas bags that are made in the U.SA. This environmental awareness art activity is great for all ages.
Earth Day is the perfect time to inspire children to become stewards of the Earth.
These fun crafts and activities for kids spark curiosity, raise awareness, and provide examples of how to live sustainably. As we celebrate Earth Day this year, we contribute to a brighter and greener future for all.
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