Fun and Thoughtful Ideas for Exploring Earth Day

Celebrated every year on April 22nd, Earth Day is a wonderful opportunity to explore the importance of caring for our environment. Even if it’s not part of a formal curriculum, it’s a topic worth sharing with children, helping them notice the world around them and think about the small actions that make a difference.

Here are five simple, hands-on ways to bring Earth Day into your classroom or home learning space, encouraging language development while also inspiring thoughtful care for the planet.

Poster Making

Making posters is a fun way to combine creativity with the language children are learning. Using the Earth Day vocabulary mats for key words and phrases, you can invite them to create a poster that encourages others to take simple steps to help the environment. Once the posters are finished, children can share and explain their ideas with the group, giving them a chance to practice language in a meaningful, confident way.

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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!

In conjunction with this song, bring in some old packaging from home (or ask your students to), and use these to sort into things that can be recycled and things that can’t. Additionally, you could sort the recyclable items further into categories, such as glass, paper and metal.

Vocabulary Activities and Worksheets

While it’s wonderful to have activities that get children moving and exploring, sometimes a calmer moment is just what’s needed to help them consolidate the vocabulary they’ve been learning. Our extensive Earth Day vocabulary pack is perfect for those quieter lessons. With 25 ready-to-go worksheets—no prep needed beyond printing—you can support a variety of learners and needs. From labelling exercises to simple sentence writing, children can confidently show what they’ve learned about caring for the planet, all in a calm, focused way.

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.

Earth Day is a wonderful chance to explore nature, care, and community with children. Using simple, hands-on activities — like making Earth-themed art, planting seeds, or playing interactive language games — helps students notice the world around them while practicing English in a meaningful way. Through stories, conversation, and playful projects, children can reflect on why our planet matters and how small actions can make a difference. It’s a day for learning, creating, and connecting — all while having fun and building language naturally.

grab your free copy here