It’s almost time to celebrate Earth Day (April 22)! Teaching about caring for our planet through fun kindergarten Earth Day activities is a wonderful way to inspire young learners and help them understand how to take care of Mother Nature.
There are a variety of ways to incorporate Earth Day activities for schools and make the learning process both educational and memorable.
Read on for simple & engaging classroom ideas for Earth Day that are a perfect blend of fun and learning, helping students understand their role in protecting the environment.
Grab a FREE Earth Day color-by-code for simple, no-prep, Earth Day fun.
Kindergarten Classroom Earth Day Activities for The Entire Week
Why limit Earth Day to just one day when you can turn it into a week-long celebration of learning and action?
By incorporating engaging Earth Day activities for schools throughout the week, students can deepen their understanding of their impact on the environment.
Kindergarten Earth Day Literacy Activities
Incorporate Earth Day into your literacy lessons with engaging activities that teach young learners about caring for the planet while building essential literacy skills.
Begin with an Earth Day read aloud to introduce new vocabulary such as reduce, reuse, recycle, conserve & protect.
Click here for some of my favorite Earth Day books.
Add a short, predictable poem—like the Earth Day Poem for Kindergarten above.
You can…
- Add motions (ideas listed in the lesson plan)
- Pause before the rhyming word and let students fill it in
- Circle high-frequency words
- Identify letters or consonant blends/digraphs
After reading, reinforce letter recognition and phonics skills with alphabet matching and missing letter activities.
Students can match uppercase and lowercase letters, complete beginning sounds or spell CVC Words.
Math Activities for Earth Day
Keep it simple with print-and-go math activities that reinforce key standards while staying on theme.
- Color-by-code addition and subtraction pages using Earth Day pictures
- Patterns using blue and green pebbles from a craft store to represent land and water
- Composing and decomposing numbers 10–19 using ten frames, equations & small objects like mini erasers or counters
- Addition and subtraction word problems with an Earth Day theme
Science Earth Day Lesson
Start with a picture sort for natural and man-made resources worksheet. Students classify items and discuss why it’s important to protect natural resources.
Next, collect school data. Count the number of trash cans and recycle bins in your building and create a bar graph to analyze the results.
Add movement with a Recycling Relay.
Students work in teams & take turns sorting picture cards or classroom items into the correct bins (paper, plastic, metal, glass & compost).
You can ask for donations from parents or use items from your play kitchen (boxes, containers, etc.)
Enhance your lesson with kid-friendly videos:
Earth Day Crafts for Kindergarten
Next, incorporate writing with art activities.
Here are some simple Earth Day writing prompts for kindergarten students:
- Three ways to protect Earth are…Try these Earth Day crafts:
- I can help Earth by…
- I’m a Planet hero. I will…
Try these Earth Day crafts:
- Marble Earth Painting: roll paint-covered marbles across a paper plate to create a textured Earth design. This pairs perfectly with the book Earth Day, Birthday
- Shaving Cream Earth Painting
- Decorate Reusable Bags: design reusable grocery bags with positive Earth Day messages
These Earth Day kindergarten projects make beautiful hallway display!
Earth Day Ideas for Kindergarten
By incorporating these kindergarten Earth Day activities, teachers can make learning meaningful & inspire students to become “Planet Heroes.”
If you’d love everything organized and ready to go in one easy-to-follow, low-prep resource, the complete Kindergarten Earth Day Unit includes literacy, math, science, crafts, and play based activities planned out for you.
Whether you celebrate for one day or an entire week, these simple ideas will help you create learning experiences your students will love.
Start with the FREE Earth Day color-by-code for simple, no-prep, Earth Day fun.