Fun Printable Earth Day Activities For First Grade Kids

Did you know that Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22nd? Teaching young children in kindergarten and first grade to take care of our Earth is so important! Let's take a look at some fun activities and printable Earth Day activities that you can add to your lesson plans in April. 

Getting Started With Earth Day Activities

Begin by finding out what students know about Earth Day. A great way to assess student knowledge is to use a KWL chart. The stands for What do you know? What do you want to know? and What did you learn? This is a fun way to keep track of what you're learning all throughout your Earth Day unit.  

Ask students what they know about Earth day and if they have ever celebrated this holiday. You can ask them what kind of things people might do on Earth Day.

Earth Day Read Alouds

Next, choose one or two picture books to help you as you plan your Earth Day lessons. There are many great picture books that help kids of all ages learn how to take care of our planet. Some of my favorites are: 

• It's Earth Day by Mercer Mayer- Join the little critters as they learn all about why we celebrate Earth Day and some of the things you can do to help our planet Earth. 
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss – This classic picture book is a great way to introduce young readers to the importance of caring for the environment and the consequences of neglecting nature.
• The Earth Book by Todd Parr – Todd Parr's colorful picture book celebrates the different ways children can help protect the Earth, from conserving water to planting trees.
• Zonia's Rain Forest by Juana Martinez-Neal – In this beautifully illustrated picture book, a young girl named Zonia explores the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and learns about the importance of protecting our natural habitats.
• The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alison Inches – In this informative picture book, a plastic bottle goes on a journey to a recycling plant, teaching young readers about the importance of recycling and caring for the environment.
• Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green – Through colorful illustrations and simple language, this picture book explains the importance of recycling and how it helps to combat climate change.

Learning About Earth Day

After reading and learning about why we celebrate this holiday, it's time to do some Earth Day projects in your classroom. Here are a few fun Earth Day activities that are perfect for kindergarten and first grade: 

1. Create a graphic organizer – after reading about Earth Day, have your students help you create an Earth Day graphic organizer listing some of the ways we can take care of our planet.  

2. Teach students about the 3 R's – One of my favorite Earth Day activities is to teach students how to reduce, reuse and recycle. Many kindergarten and 1st grade students don't realize that instead of throwing things away that we no longer need or want, we can show them a little love and reuse them in different ways.

A fun activity is to create 3R's pocket chart cards for students to sort. This is a great opportunity to discuss how we can help keep our planet clean by reducing electricity, donating old toys and clothing for others to use and recycling plastic bottle and other objects to be made into new things. 

3. Play games – Fun printable games like Save The Earth are the perfect Earth Day activity for 1st grade and kindergarten students. Once your students have learned the importance of the 3R's they can have fun playing this Earth Day game with friends. In this game, students choose a card and decide if each activity helps the planet by reducing energy, reusing items or recycling. 

4. Planting activities – Have your students plant seeds in pots or a school garden. Students can plant their own flowers and take care of them by watering them and giving them sunshine to grow. Then create a “green” corner with these plants to improve air quality. A great school wide annual event is to plant a tree on the school grounds. This would be a great activity for your school booster club to sponser every year. 

5. Recycling activities – Any good Earth Day theme will include teaching kids how to recycle. You can add your own recycling bin to your classroom where students can throw cans, bottle and paper. You might even try to get a large outdoor recycling bin added to your school campus where all classes can recycle. This is a perfect way to teach students of all ages about environmental issues and the importance of keeping our planet clean and healthy. 

Another way to have fun recycling is with some Earth Day crafts. One of my favorites it to have your students bring in old magazines from home. Have students tear out any pages with a lot of blue and green on the page. Then tear the pages into small pieces of blue and green and separate them into trays. Have your students sit in small groups to create their own planet earth out of recycled magazines. This is a fun and easy way to show kids that old things can be turned new again with a little creativity. Hang your creations in the hallway to wish every one a Happy Earth Day! 

6. Make bird feeders – A fun activity that kids love is to make bird feeders using recycled materials. Have students bring in pine cones and coat them with peanut butter and bird seed. hang them from the trees on your playground for the birds to enjoy!

7. Invite speakers – Reach out to your local library to come in and do a special Earth Day read aloud. Oftentimes, libraries have books, kits and other items they can use to teach kids about Earth Day. Another great person to reach out to is your local recycling center. Invite them to come in and show some of the things that kids can recycle and discuss why it's so important for kids to recycle.

Finally, reach out to your local Soil And Water Conservation District to see if they offer any kid of programs about the water cycle. Clean water is another important issue to discuss in your Earth Day activities. They can discuss the importance of water conservation and ways to save water.

8. Clean up – A great Earth Day activity is to host a classroom litter cleanup around the school grounds. Invite older kids to partner up with kindergarten and first grade students to walk around the playground or school campus and pick up litter and debris. 

9. Earth Day writing – No Earth Day celebrations would be complete without working on writing skills. Here are a few fun ideas for students to write about what they've learned about Earth Day:

1. Make a list of things you can recycle.
2. Make a list of things you can compost.
3. Make an Earth Day flip book and write how we can reduce, reuse and recycle
4. Write one way that you can be a hero and save the earth. 
5. Show students pictures of kids that are reducing, reusing and recycling. Have them write about the picture and tell how the kids are helping to save our planet. 

10. Nature Walk – A simple and yet fun Earth Day activity is to go on a nature walk around the schoolyard to observe local plant life. Talk about the trees that grow in your area, flowers that you see and even insects and animals. This is a great time to teach kids about different animals and how we can help them by keeping their environment clean.

11. Global Warming – Earth Day is a great time to discuss how our planet is warming and why reducing our carbon footprint is so important. One experiment that I like to do is to show students how the ice is melting in the Arctic. First, we watched a video about how global warming is affecting wildlife, especially the polar bears.  Next, we made this anchor chart with ideas of how to save the polar bears. 

We did an experiment that showed how the ice is melting in the arctic and soon the polar bears will have nowhere to live. I mixed some baking soda with water and spread it in a plastic container

This looked a lot like ice and I could mold it to look like ice burgs.  I put a small polar bear on the ice to show where it lives. Next, we used a small squirt bottle for the liquid and added water to 2 T of citric acid.  I also added some blue food coloring to make it look like water.  

12. Trash To Treasure – Here's one activity your kids will love! Host a “Trash to Treasure” exchange where students bring in games and toys to swap or repurpose. Before doing this activity be sure to send a note to parents explaining that children can bring in a toy they no longer want to swap with a friend. 

13. Other Earth Day activities – Add to your Earth Day fun by having kids become Earth Day superheroes. kids will have a great time with a fun coloring page to complete or by making a special Earth Day headband. 

Ready to teach your students all about Earth Day? This printable pack includes lesson plans, assessments, graphic organizers, Earth Day worksheets, printable activities, Earth Day crafts and more.

VIEW ON SITEVIEW ON TPT