20 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day With Kids

Earth Day is coming up! Since the largest civic event and environmental protest on the 22nd of April, 1970, that date is celebrated as Earth Day worldwide. It’s supposed to be a day where we come together as a community and take care of our wonderful planet. I think we need more than just one day though, so you can find environmental posts all throughout the month of April on my blog to celebrate our Mother Earth! Together we can get creative with the resources we have on hand and make the most out of nature, whether it’s in our community, on your travels, or close to home. But you have kids, so that means you’re going to celebrate by just making crafts all day right? If that doesn’t feel right to you, then don’t do it! Here are # ways to celebrate Earth Day with kids!

1. Attend a cleanup event

Grab some gloves, garbage bags, and check Facebook events or your local parks to see if there’s any cleanup events started. If there isn’t already, consider hosting one yourself at your favorite park. One of my daughter’s favorite games is spotting trash to clean up, she’s very adamant about no trash left behind! It’s never too early (or too late) to get your kids involved in keeping our planet clean, especially if we make it fun. Try and see how many different silly moves you can make when you bend over to pick up trash, I’m sure your littles would get a good giggle and follow along!

2. Start a garden

Not only is having a garden great for your health and the environment, but it’s amazing for your child’s development. Gardening provides a wonderful combination of skills and tasks to address your child’s development. Not only that, but being allowed to play in the soil is proven to help children develop tactile skills, give them fresh air, exercise, sunlight, and boost their creativity, imagination, independent learning, teamwork, and immune system! There are so many amazing benefits to gardening for all parties involved.

Related: How To Plan A Garden

3. Plant a tree

Whether you decide to physically plant a tree yourself, through a group/community event or donate to a group as a family (such as OneTreePlanted), trees are so beneficial for our environment and habitats. While planting the trees, you can teach your children about the many benefits trees hold: reducing the amount of storm water runoff, reducing erosion, reducing pollution, many wildlife depend on trees for habitats, trees provide food, the air we breath, protection, and home for many wildlife.

4. Go for a hike

There are astronomical health, social, and developmental benefits that come with time in nature. Getting out for a hike brings beneficial cardiovascular exercise by traversing rocks, navigating exposed roots, climbing over fallen trees, building balance and agility. Whether you decide to carry your kids or let them walk on their own, be patient. If this is your first hike with your kid, lower your expectations and allow them to explore. Be sure to block off enough time so you and your child(ren) can fully explore the area without pressures of time. Allow your child some risky play to build their problem-solving and confidence! If you need some more guidance, be sure to check out these groups for outdoor tips, activities, trackers, challenges, and so much more: 1000 Hours Outside, 52 Hike Challenge, and Hike It Baby.

5. Make bird feeders

This was a craft we did with my grandmother, and it was one of my favorites! It’s super simple to do and quick, making it perfect for all ages. We baked pinecones, but you can use toilet paper rolls, apples, oranges, whatever you may have on hand, tie some string, ribbon, or twin to it, rub some natural, sugar-free nut butter all over your feeder, then roll it in bird seed and hang it from a nearby tree or bush! We hung them on our Christmas Tree and love to watch the chickadees from our deck.

6. Clean up your neighborhood

There’s no better way to feel a part of your community than keeping it clean. My daughter is a wizard at spying trash and will not let me walk away until I have picked it up to dispose of it properly. We’ve filled many strollers full of waste in our neighborhoods and I now keep little bags in my backpack for moments like this!

7. Read a book about nature

Okay, this one might go beyond just your kiddos. There are so many amazing books out there for children to learn about nature. If you are able to, you can make a stop at your local library to find a few and enjoy those quite moments (or toddler moments) enjoying books while you learn about the pond, bees, worms, the garden, and so much more!

But also, if you are a parent interested in inspirational outdoor books then these may peak your interest:

Vitamin N - full of resources and ideas to get out and be involved in nature with your kids (basically a source book if you just need an idea booster)
A Year of Forest School - a beautiful book giving you a general overview of forest school. This book isn’t meant to replace forest school, but gives you general ideas for tasks kids might do when they attend and for you to recreate at home. It’s full of ideas for all four seasons (if you have them).
Let Them Eat Dirt - recently in science, it has been found that early exposure to microbes is beneficial to a child’s well-being. This book explores the scientific finds, how microbes affect the body (in good and bad ways), and how we can positively influence the microbes in our children’s body from conception to give our children the best immune start early in life.
There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather - a memoir of Swedish-born Linda McGurk after she moved to Indiana with her American husband discussing the differences in her upbringing and typical American upbringings and which is better developmentally.
How To Raise A Wild Child - this book offers all caregivers the necessary tools to increase children’s exposure to nature and shows the research that indicates regular outdoor time reduces bullying, combats obesity, and boosts academic scores, along with benefits to cognitive, emotional, and social development.
Free to Learn - This book draws on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history to prove that children need to be able to steer their own learning and development in order to thrive in today’s constantly changing world.
Balanced and Barefoot - studies continue to show that children need risky play, outdoor sensory exploration, and so much more than screens + video games. It brings into perspective how the lack of movement affects health and cognitive difficulties such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, emotional regulation, and sensory processing. This book offers strategies to help your children thrive, even in urban environments, outdoors.

8. Host a toy and clothing swap

Our current consumer habits are actually driving climate change, being that the production and use of household goods and services are responsible for 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Not only that, but our children are constantly growing and changing! So of course we have to go through so much clothing or certain toys, but we don’t always have to shop new. You and your child can work through clothes they’ve outgrown, toys they are willing to give to someone else, and organize a swap! You definitely want to involve your kid here so they don’t feel as if you are taking away from their personal identity by removing their items for them.

10. Make a nature scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunts are a huge hit at this house! Make a list of natural things you can find around your home, community, park, or trail. Then go out and see how many items you all can find. You can save up those organic free-range egg cartons and print out pictures to glue to the top if you want something to make a great treasure box. We used the free printable from Wonder Filled Days. Or, if you are wanting to save paper, you can just keep a list on your phone. For littles, you could use a dry erase board! If you choose to print pictures, maybe you can laminate them so you can reuse them for additional scavenger hunts or other ideas.

9. Sort the recycling

Recycling is not the most effective step towards a greener community, but it is pretty important. Help your children identify what is or is not recyclable with your recyclers guidelines printed and hanging in an accessible space (we keep ours on our fridge). Then include your children! If your recycler requires you to sort your items, include them in finding like items and sorting them accordingly. Our recycler does not require sorting, but we bring our daughter to the location to watch us unload and put all our recycling in the bin.

11. Go for a family bike ride

Riding a bike has immense benefits for the body and for the planet. Try biking around your neighborhood, head to a bike trail, or enjoy your city/town and combat polluting our air!

12. Practice some yoga or a dance party!

My daughter isn’t doing yoga quite yet, but she thoroughly enjoys watching me practice. However, when we throw on a Grow With Jo dance party, she is all over the place! Practicing your breathing, meditation, and maybe taking the yoga practice outdoors is such an amazing way to get grounded in yourself and nature. You can practice mindfulness with your kids by asking them if they notice the sun on their skin, the feeling of the wind, maybe the grass under their barefoot or pretend roots are growing out of your feet and into the ground. We love to read good night yoga and good morning yoga and try to make ourselves look like a tree, star, moon, and the other poses they help teach kids in a fun way.

13. Head to the water

We weren’t sure how kayaking with our daughter the first time would go. She’s always wanted to constantly move, learn, do, and just go, so sitting for hours in a boat was something I didn’t think she’d enjoy at all. However, she loves it! Get those kids out on the water with a kayak, canoe, rowboat, or stand-up paddleboard if you’re brave. Not interested in getting on the water, then maybe find a river/creek to explore or head to the beach and play in the sand.

14. Make seed bombs (or seed shakers)

Making seed bombs are amazing for sensory play! You just need clay, or thoroughly wet seed starter and make seed balls. You could also make seep paper with paper scraps from around the house/recycling bin. Or (my personal favorite), use old parmesan cheese shakers and shake native wildflower seeds in your yard, neighborhood, or community. You could also drop off your little seed balls or shakers at neighbors doorsteps for little Earth Day gifts and random acts of kindness.

15. Build a fort

Why not learn a little wilderness survival 101 while celebrating our planet and head out to find items you could use to make a shelter! As a family, look for materials that you can already find on the ground such as fallen trees, sticks, pine needles, leaves, and other materials. Be sure that the materials you use are already fallen and not still alive. Are there any other wilderness survival things you could do once inside your fort? Maybe you could bring lunch into it, read some books, host a forest school, or even just sit and practice mindfulness by observing the surrounding area.

16. Make earth art

I would love to add making mandalas to our list, our daughter just isn’t ready for that (she’d destroy mine in a heart beat). But I love the work of Morning Altars and the message he puts out into the world! Wouldn’t it be fun for each of us to get out into our environment and make beautiful art pieces using the nature we find around us? I think it’s absolutely inspiring so of course I had to add it to the list!

17. Attend forest school or have your own for the day

We joined a free forest school in our area a few summers ago and it was so much fun getting out with a group of moms, just tackling nature with our kids. Now that we have moved, I haven’t found a new one yet but I’m considering starting my own. Spending time outdoors with others can increase a child’s confidence and self-esteem through exploration, problem solving, being encouraged to learn how to assess and take appropriate risks, and even being allowed to move at their own pace to stop and explore or to run and jump.

18. Have a picnic

This is my absolute favorite way to bond with nature and our daughter. We like to pack a few books, she helps me make the snacks and sandwiches, then we pack the basket (she may have snuck some candies in there too). Spending any quality time outdoors is amazing for children development

19. Build something with nature

Along the lines of forest school and the Year of Forest School Book, there are so many fun nature crafts out there for kids to enjoy (or parents if you’re crafty like me). Maybe you decide to hit Pinterest and see what kind of nature crafts you can do or just head out and see where your imagination takes you!

If you need a couple ideas to jumpstart your creativity, here are a few of our favorites:

nature crowns - these are super simple because you don’t need any outside resources. You can use flowers, grasses, clovers, vines, sticks, dandelions, anything! Get creative and have fun with it.
paint brushes - another super simple one! You just need sticks for the handles, then use leaves, grass blades, flowers, or anything else and either use each piece individually or maybe use a rubber band to hold multiple natural materials to your stick. Then just dip in paint and enjoy.
mud cakes - what kid doesn’t love to play in the mud? Challenge your kids to make cakes using only mud and natural materials they can find. Maybe you bring out cake tins or cupcake molds for them to use. Mud can provide an amazing, inexpensive, sensory experience while boosting children’s immunities!

20. Start composting

If you don’t already have a compost, maybe Earth Day will be the perfect day for you to start that up! We love to use our Bokashi Bins because they fit neatly under our sink and don’t smell at all. I love teaching our daughter that we can save food scraps and turn them into amazing materials that then feed the very garden that feeds us. There are so many other options for those of us with different situations! You can make a compost bin out of old tubs, use a compost tumbler, fence in an area in your backyard if you have the room, and so many other ways. If you really want to delve into food waste, you can also save some scraps in the freezer to make homemade stocks!

I hope some of these ideas helped get your creativity rolling on how to celebrate Earth Day without needing to use coloring pages or feeling like you have to save all your recycling for crafts! If you did, then great! Add those into your day that makes most sense to you.

What’s your favorite way to get your kids involved in nature?