7 Fun Ways to Celebrate Earth Day in School

How do you celebrate Earth Day in your school? Are you looking for fun ways to celebrate Earth Day? You can incorporate a lot of normal curriculum areas, such as reading, math, science with an Earth Day theme. As a librarian, I always start with books. There are a ton of books, both fiction and nonfiction, about Earth Day.

Read Earth Day Books

Books can give facts about the environment, as well as ideas that kids can do. Some of them tell a story of a favorite character (such as Fancy Nancy) performing Earth Day activities.

Want a free set of task cards about the solar system? Click HERE.

Research the History of Earth Day

Older students can research the history of Earth Day…how it began, how it has changed over the years…how it became a worldwide phenomenon. These photos are from the Pebble Go database. Your library may subscribe to it, or to other databases such as Gale in Context or Brittanica School.

Pick Up (Clean) Trash as an Earth Day Activity

Now, you don’t want students getting dirty or injured actually picking up real trash. In our school, we put out “clean trash” for the kinders and firsties to pick up on the school field. We put out newspapers or other paper, rinsed plastic water bottles, foil pie plates etc. They picked them up and sorted them into labelled boxes.

Watch Fun Earth Day Videos

YouTube has some great kid-friendly videos about Earth Day, such as a visit to a recycling plant, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It also has read-alouds of Earth Day books, songs, and rhymes.

Do Earth Day Crafts

What holiday doesn’t incorporate crafts into the curriculum? You can get cute ideas for crafts from Pinterest or Teachers pay Teachers. Younger students can color Mr. Earth, the globe-shaped symbol of Earth Day. Older students can make flip books or interactive notebooks to organize the Earth Day facts they researched. Earth Day is a good opportunity to bring out the classroom globe and show off the continents and oceans. If you plan ahead, students can make a papier-mache globe over a balloon.

Let Them Eat Cake on Earth Day

You could end your celebration with Earth Day cupcakes, either color half the batter green and half blue, or do the same with two colors of icing or sprinkles. Alternatively, you could make “dirt” cupcakes or chocolate pudding dirt cups with crushed Oreos and gummy worms.

Incorporate Technology into Earth Day Activities

What school lesson would be complete without technology? Try some fun digital games for Earth Day. These are available in my Teachers pay Teachers store.