Earth Day is an excellent opportunity to teach students about the importance of taking care of the planet.

Earth Day Videos

Videos can be a great way to add variety to an Earth Day lesson.  We have found our favorite Earth Day videos that are kid-friendly and educational.

Going Green Song

Happy Earth Day!

How to Care for the Environment

Save Water to Help the Earth

Earth Day Lapbook from Lucky Little Learners

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Earth Day Books

Books are a wonderful way to bring Earth Day to life by starting conversations around important topics to kids.  Here are some of our favorite books that we like to use to help teach topics such as caring for nature, trees, recycling, life cycles, and suggestions on what kids can do to help the planet. We've listed dozens of our favorite Earth Day Read Alouds and corresponding activities in this post!

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Why Should I Recycle?

Why Should I Recycle? is a book about Mr. Jones and his students.  The class attends a field trip where they learn about the importance of recycling and protecting nature.  A note at the back of each book is for parents and teachers, suggesting ways to use the book most effectively.

Earth Day- Hooray!

Earth Day-Hooray! is actually a math book that brings in the importance of recycling and taking care of the planet together with the teaching of place value.  Facts about recycling throughout the story will help readers understand how important it is to take care of the Earth.

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle:  A Story About Recycling is a unique book about a plastic bottle that goes on a journey from the refinery plant, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into it's new life…as a fleece jacket!

Told from the point of view of a free-spirited plastic bottle, kids can share in the daily experiences and inner thoughts of the bottle through his personal journal. The diary entries will be fun and humorous yet point out the ecological significance behind each product and the resources used to make it. Readers will never look at a plastic bottle the same way again!

I Am Earth

I Am Earth introduces kids to the basic concepts of earth science while also encouraging the importance of taking care of our special planet through environmental awareness and sustainability. Keeping Earth a happy and healthy place to live is important for everyone big and small.

In this Earth science book for beginners, kids learn what makes our planet so uniquely special and how people can work together to keep it a healthy home.I Am Earth is a great way to start children at an early age to care for the environment by understanding why the environment is so important and what they can do to help keep nature in balance, like recycle, reuse and conserve.

I Can Save the Earth

I Can Save the Earth is a book that will educate children on what they can do to be more eco-friendly. The books in this line will be made from recycled materials, and the storylines will cover subjects such as improving the environment, learning about endangered animals, recycling, and much more.

Hands On Community Service

A hands on and practical way to celebrate Earth Day is by having students get involved.  I like to give my students a grocery bag and plastic gloves.  They walk around the playground and school grounds picking up any litter that can be found.  They enjoy this project and the school grounds look much better when we are done…win-win!

Earth Day Bulletin Boards

If you have a bulletin board to fill throughout the year, Earth Day can be a great opportunity to create something to display!

The globe project seen above were created by a former colleague of mine, Mrs. Bollinger.   The students used blue and green paint to cover their globe.  Sponges were used by the students to spread the paint.  The continents were made out of black paper and tracers.  You can grab the tracers HERE.

Another easy bulletin board idea you can see above.  Simply take a piece of white bulletin board paper and make a circle.  Each student gets one of their hands painted blue or green.  The handprints are supposed to represent water and land.  Then each student was given a heart to cut out and on the heart they are instructed to write one way that they plan to help care for the Earth.  Simple and effective.

This collaborative learning project was created by two of my former colleagues, Mrs. Hanson and Mrs. Anderson.  These two classes were buddy classes (1st grade and 3rd grade).  The task was for the buddy groups to look through magazines and find pictures and/or text that could reflect information about Earth Day.  Finish the display off with 2 “arms” and “hands” with a heart.  It's a great collaborative learning project and it turns out to be a cute hallway display too!

Earth Day Activities

My favorite Earth Day project to do for Earth Day is this Earth Day Lapbook Unit. It covers everything from ways to protect the land, air, water, and animals to ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  The unit also includes a recycling sort activity where the student has a variety of recyclable items and they need to sort them into the correct “bins”:  cans, glass, plastic, and paper.  

Earth day Writing

Lucky Little Learners has a writing prompt for every occasion, including Earth Day! Download it below.

Earth Day Freebie

If you'd like to try out this Earth Day Fact or Opinion worksheet for free, you can click HERE to download the file.

If you'd like to save these ideas you can use the image below to pin to your Pinterest board or click HERE for a direct link to Pinterest.