Earth Day is the next Sunday 22nd April, and what better way to promote and teach children ways to care for our Earth.  Below are some activity ideas that can be used in early childhood education settings. 

1. Dramatic Play Recycling Center: Setting up a Dramatic Play Recycling Center can be as low prep or elaborate as an educator has time for. Simply put, you could have a basket of safe to use (eg: no sharp edges) and washed recycling in a basket for children to sort into different boxes/bins. Students could sort the recycling into cardboard/ paper, hard plastics, soft plastics, glass and metal. For more elaborate dramatic play recycling centers, you could create job rolls for children to enact, and set up a more detailed recycling center with labels and print outs. For downloadable printouts you could explore the collection on Teachers Pay Teachers. For layout and set up ideas, explore Pre K Printable Fun  or for a low prep idea Pre K Pages

2. Earth Sensory Activity: from Pre K Pages: Sensory play is recognized as being so important for young children, so creating a sensory earth activity is a great way to support children’s sensory development and a discussion opportunity for Earth Day. For young children who are still mouthing, the shaving cream can be substituted for Aqua Faba or Cool Whip to make this activity taste safe. 

3. Painting: You could use different recycled materials (eg: paper towel rolls, milk bottle tops, scrunched up plastic bags on a peg) and use these to create a painting. Children can explore the different imprints these recycled materials make on paper. 

4. Educators can read the story: The Earth Book, by Todd Parr. Following this you could have a conversation about how the children help look after the earth, and even complete a ‘World is in Our Hands’ activity to follow this. There are many different ways this activity can be done, so best choose one that best fits the students you are teaching. 

5. Plant a seed: Make newspaper pots (instructions here), fill these up with dirt, and have children plant a seed in them. These newspaper pots can then be taken home and planted in a garden. You could even have children decorate the pots. 

What other Earth Day activities have you done with early learners? We’d love you to share these with everyone by commenting below.

*Cover image sourced by Free Pik