April 22nd is Earth Day, a wonderful opportunity to slow down, step outside, and notice the world around us.
For young children, caring for the planet doesn't have to begin with big ideas or complicated lessons. It can begin with a leaf, a flower, a puddle, a handful of soil, or a simple conversation about what helps our world grow.
Earth Day invites children to explore nature, ask questions, make connections, and discover that even small actions can help care for the places we share.
Whether you're planning a classroom experience, a homeschool day, or simply looking for meaningful activities to enjoy at home, Earth Day offers endless possibilities for hands-on learning, creativity, language, and connection with nature.
Exploring Nature
Begin by simply going outside.
Invite children to become nature detectives and look closely at what they can find. There is no need for a long list or a complicated scavenger hunt. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the unexpected ones.
Look for:
- Leaves and flowers
- Rocks and sticks
- Insects
- Birds
- Seeds
- Different textures and colors
Why it works:
- Encourages observation
- Builds descriptive vocabulary
- Develops curiosity
- Helps children notice seasonal changes
Try this: Give children magnifying glasses and let them choose one natural object to observe closely. What do they notice that they didn't see at first?
Poster Making
Making posters is a wonderful way to combine creativity, language, and environmental awareness.
Invite children to create a poster showing one simple way they can help care for the Earth. They might draw people planting flowers, turning off a tap, reusing materials, caring for animals, or picking up litter.
Use Earth Day vocabulary cards or picture prompts to introduce words naturally as children create.
When their posters are finished, invite children to share their ideas with others.
Why it works:
- Encourages creative expression
- Builds environmental vocabulary
- Gives children a meaningful reason to communicate
- Helps them connect ideas with real-world actions
Earth Day Read-Alouds
Books are a beautiful way to introduce children to nature, animals, conservation, and caring for the planet. A good Earth Day read-aloud can become the starting point for a nature walk, a conversation, a sensory invitation, or a creative project.
Here are five wonderful choices:
- The Earth Book by Todd Parr — A colorful, accessible introduction to simple ways children can help take care of the Earth.
- We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom — A powerful, beautifully illustrated story about protecting water and caring for the natural world.
- The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry — A wonderful story for exploring rainforests, animals, plants, and the importance of protecting natural habitats.
- The Watcher by Jeanette Winter — A gentle introduction to Jane Goodall and her connection with chimpanzees and the natural world.
- Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney — A beautiful story about making the world a more beautiful place and finding meaningful ways to contribute to the world around us.
After reading, invite children to draw something they want to protect, act out part of the story, create a nature-inspired invitation, or share one small way they can care for the Earth.
Earth Day Sensory Play
Create a small sensory invitation inspired by nature.
Use materials such as soil, leaves, stones, seeds, sticks, flowers, water, or natural loose parts. Add small containers, scoops, and tools so children can investigate, sort, transfer, and create.
For an indoor invitation, try a pretend garden or mini nature tray.
Why it works:
- Strengthens fine motor skills
- Encourages open-ended exploration
- Supports sensory development
- Creates opportunities for imaginative play
Try this: Invite children to create a tiny garden using loose parts and then tell you about the world they have created.
Caring for Our Environment
Earth Day is a natural time to talk about small acts of care.
Rather than focusing on everything that needs to change in the world, choose one or two actions children can actually experience.
You might:
- Water plants
- Plant seeds
- Pick up litter safely
- Reuse materials for art
- Turn off lights when leaving a room
- Use water thoughtfully
- Create a small pollinator garden
- Care for an outdoor space
The important message is simple:
We can care for the places we live and play.
Boom Cards
We love using Boom Cards here at A Teachable Year because they’re so engaging and easy to use. Our FREE I Can Help the Earth pack is ready to go with almost no prep, and it’s been a hit in many classrooms. The cards work on tablets, laptops, and desktop computers, are self-marking, and let you see how children are doing as they play. Each card presents a statement about an environmental action, and children decide whether it helps the planet or not—making learning about Earth Day interactive, thoughtful, and fun.
Recycling
Getting creative doesn’t always mean sitting down with a pencil. Singing is a wonderful way for children to use their talents while practising spoken English. One of our favourites for Earth Day is the recycling song We Recycle (to the tune of Frère Jacques)—it’s simple, catchy, and a fun way to get everyone thinking about taking care of the planet.
We
recycle
We
recycle
Yes,
we do
Yes,
we do
Caring
for our planet
Caring
for our planet
You
should too
You
should too!
Vocabulary Activities and Worksheets
Flashcards
Our FREE “Go Green” flashcards are a simple, ready-to-use way to bring Earth Day ideas into the classroom or home learning space. The pack includes 36 cards in both color and black-and-white versions.
You can use them to explore vocabulary, or take them a step further: try a sentence starter like, “To help the environment, I could…” and invite children to complete it. They can also share ideas with each other using the same structure, opening up gentle conversations about small actions that make a difference.
It’s a calm, thoughtful way to encourage noticing how choices affect the world — and to practice language naturally while exploring ideas that matter.
Recycling and Creative Reuse
Before throwing something away, ask:
“Could we make something with this?”
Cardboard boxes, paper tubes, jars, bottle tops, scraps of paper, and fabric pieces can become wonderful materials for open-ended creativity.
Children can build:
- Houses
- Animals
- Insects
- Gardens
- Imaginary machines
- Sculptures
Why it works:
- Encourages creative thinking
- Develops problem-solving skills
- Gives new life to everyday materials
- Helps children think about reuse
Earth Day Art
Nature itself can become an invitation for art.
Collect fallen leaves, sticks, stones, or other safe natural materials and use them to create patterns, collages, prints, or temporary nature art.
Children can arrange materials by color, shape, size, or texture.
There doesn't need to be a permanent finished product. The process of collecting, arranging, and noticing is part of the experience.
Creative Extensions
- Nature Walk: Explore the outdoor space and collect observations rather than objects.
- Seed Planting: Plant seeds and observe how they change over time.
- Nature Journal: Draw something discovered outside and add simple words or labels.
- Earth Collage: Create a collage using recycled and natural materials.
- Nature Patterns: Make patterns with leaves, stones, sticks, or flowers.
- Dramatic Play: Create a pretend garden, farm, recycling center, or nature station.
- Earth Day Sorting: Sort natural and human-made objects.
- Outdoor Storytelling: Invent a story inspired by something discovered outside.
Bringing It All Together
Earth Day is more than a single day of environmental activities. It is an invitation to help children develop a relationship with the natural world.
Through books, nature walks, sensory play, art, gardening, storytelling, and simple acts of care, children begin to notice that the world around them is something worth observing, enjoying, and protecting.
A leaf can become a science investigation.
A seed can become a story.
A cardboard box can become a sculpture.
A garden can become a place for observation and wonder.
And sometimes, caring for the Earth begins with something very small:
slowing down, looking closely, and noticing how much there is to love. 🌎🌱
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