Today marks 52 years since the first ever Earth day! This annual event allows us to come together to celebrate all aspects of the planet, as well as reminding us of the importance of protecting it.
By educating the children of today on environmental protection we can help to create a brighter, greener future. With that in mind, we have put together a list of five Earth day themed activities for children of all ages:
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Recycling themed tuff tray
What you will need:
- Optional tuff tray
- Small containers
- Pieces of scrap recycling, including: paper, metal and plastic
- Labels for each category
This activity will help to educate children on how to recycle their rubbish in a fun, interactive way. Simply pour the scrap rubbish into the middle of the tray and allow children to sort it into the correct containers. You could also turn this activity into a competition, the child with the most correct recycling items in their container wins a prize!
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Playdough Earth
What you will need:
- Green playdough
- Blue playdough
- Laminated earth template
This activity allows children to develop their fine motor skills, whilst also learning some basic geographical locations. Encourage them to fill countries with playdough, whilst pointing out their geographical names. Then admire their final creation!
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Magazine collages
This simple activity will help to encourage children to reuse and recycle resources, rather than just dispose of them.
What you will need:
- Old newspapers/magazines
- Paper
- Scissors
- Glue stick/ PVA glue
- Optional template
Depending on the child’s age group, you can create a template to collage on top of, or let their imagination run wild on a plain piece of paper. Encourage them to tear out or cut out small pieces of paper out of the magazines and glue them to create a new piece of art. Each collage will be unique and an exciting new image to display.
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Watercolour Earth paintings
What you will need:
- Circle paper cutout
- Water
- Watercolour paint
- Paintbrush or pipette
Evenly coat the circle paper cutout in water. Then using either the paintbrush or pipette drop blue and green paint on to the circle. Watch as the colours magically spread a form little islands. You will end up with a beautiful Earth-looking painting like the one below!
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Earth Day themed tuff tray
Finally we decided to create an Earth themed tuff tray to celebrate this exciting day. Of course, this idea can be adapted to whatever your child enjoys and what resources you have access to at home.
Here is what we used:
- Hand painted earth mat
- Learnwell alphabet rhyme time cards
- Jumbo animals
- Pinecones
- Fake leaves
- Size sorting eggs
- White and black polished pebbles
- Shells
- Little people
If you try out any of these activities tag us in your photos! @kcssocial and @kcsearlyyears
Check out some of our amazing resources that would help support classroom learning:
Little People Set of 9 (kcs.co.uk)
Jumbo Zoo Animals Set 5 (kcs.co.uk)
A6 Alphabet Rhyme Time Picture Cards (kcs.co.uk)
Black Polished Pebbles (kcs.co.uk)
Tuff Tray Black Each (kcs.co.uk)
