My Favorite Preschool Earth Day Activities

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Are you looking for preschool Earth Day activities?

Earth Day is all about celebrating our planet and learning to reduce, reuse, and recycle to keep our planet healthy. There are all kinds of fun ways you can teach your preschoolers about the importance of natural resources and protecting our Earth this Spring.

I can’t wait to share my favorite books for Earth Day, Earth Day crafts, and preschool Earth Day activities with you! I’ve got no-prep printables to make practicing early learning concepts and celebrating the Earth easy. Plus, real-world opportunities to practice recycling with hands-on Earth Day activities your preschoolers will love!

Keep reading to discover my favorite ways to celebrate Earth Day at home and in the classroom. Plus, get some virtual preschool activity ideas and grab my printable Earth Day activity pages too.

Why Is Earth Day Important?

Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States in 1970. At the time, there was no Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect people and animals by ensuring we have clean air, water, and land. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson decided to create the Earth Day holiday to draw attention to the need to protect our natural resources and manage environmental issues responsibly. 

Today, Earth Day is all about celebrating our planet’s clean natural resources and raising awareness about recycling, climate change, and clean energy efforts. We can use Earth Day to celebrate the earth with our preschoolers and educate them about the importance of caring for our planet. There are preschool Earth Day activities and earth day crafts and storybooks we can use to help get the message across in a fun and inviting way.

How To Celebrate Earth Day With Preschoolers

How can we celebrate Earth Day with preschoolers? There are lots of awesome resources and activities for preschool learners to participate in this Earth Day! I think beginning with books and stories is a great way to help preschoolers understand the purpose of Earth Day and get excited about celebrating our planet.

Next, teachers can follow up with hands-on Earth Day activities and creative Earth Day crafts to engage preschoolers and help them remember all the things they’re learning. Plus, Earth Day activities and printables can give teachers an extra opportunity to practice important early learning concepts. For example, my Earth Day by number printable is an easy way to celebrate Earth Day with preschoolers while learning about colors, numbers, and counting. 

Finally, don’t miss the opportunity to encourage your preschoolers to participate in conservation and recycling efforts this Earth Day. There are lots of fun recycling projects for preschoolers you can do at home and in the classroom this Spring. These hands on learning opportunities are perfect for helping preschoolers practice recycling in a creative way they won’t forget.

Book Suggestions for Earth Day Education

Reading colorful picture books with engaging stories about the earth can be an easy way to introduce your preschool learners to conservation, recycling, and our natural resources. Start your Earth Day lessons and celebrations with a storybook in circle time or add one of these favorites to your morning basket.

Here are some of my favorite books to read aloud with preschoolers for Earth Day:

• The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
• Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty
• Under Your Feet: Soil, Sand, and Everything Underground by Wenjia Tang
• This Little Environmentalist by Joan Holub
• Recycling Is Fun by Charles Ghigna

Pair any of these Earth Day books with these Earth Day coloring bookmarks for more added fun!

Earth Day Crafts & Activities

I love crafts! Preschool crafts are a fun and easy way to enhance your child’s hand-eye coordination, build fine motor skills and encourage creativity. Sometimes crafts get a bad rep in the creativity department because they come with templates and a predetermined result. However, that’s a great benefit for kids who are shy or reluctant to engage.

This Earth Day craft is an easy way for your preschoolers to celebrate and learn about recycling. Plus, this flipbook craft can be used to help your preschoolers build print awareness and fine motor skills too. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate Earth Day by learning how to reduce, reuse, and recycle with your preschoolers.

Recycling Projects for Preschoolers

Speaking of recycling, I’m so excited to share these new recycling projects for preschoolers with you! These Earth Day activities are perfect for use in the classroom or at home. Plus, they’re a great way to start a conversation about conservation with your early learners. Check out these real-world opportunities to practice recycling with your preschoolers this Earth Day:

Recycling Play Dough Activities

Playdough activities are always a big hit with preschoolers. This Earth Day activity is a whole lot of fun and easy for teachers and moms too.

Did you know manipulating playdough is a great way to help your preschoolers build finger strength and dexterity for handwriting as well? Be sure to grab these Earth Day playdough mats and build upon your child’s fine motor skills this April!

Earth Day Snack Ideas

I love theming snacks because it’s an easy way to provide a multisensory learning experience. These Earth Day snack ideas are an excellent way to help your preschoolers internalize all the cool things they’re learning about this Earth Day. Plus, getting preschoolers into the kitchen to help prep a fun snack is filled with learning opportunities for everyone!

DIY Pine Cone Bird Feeder

Earth Day is all about finding ways to help protect our natural resources and love our planet.

This DIY Pine Cone Bird Feeder is an easy way to use natural materials to help care for forest animals. Just cover a pine cone with peanut butter and add seeds. They’re a lot of fun to make even if they are a bit messy.

Eggshell Planting Project

If you’re planning to start a garden this Spring, this Eggshell Planting Project is perfect for your preschoolers! You can avoid the plastic cartons that many seeds are started in by utilizing this fun Eggshell Planting Project instead.

With this real world recycling challenge, you’ll repurpose biodegradable eggshells (which happen to make great compost!) to start the seeds for your Spring garden. 

Celebrating Earth Day in the Classroom & at Home

Curious about how to celebrate Earth Day in the classroom or at home? It’s true, there are some activities and projects that work best in a classroom setting and others that function better at home with one on one help. For example, my eggshell planting project could be a little tricky in a room with a dozen or more preschoolers. 

Here are some Earth Day activities that work really well in a classroom:

Printable Earth Day Coloring Pages

My no-prep printable Earth Day coloring pages are perfect for busy classrooms.

Teachers can quickly prepare these pages for preschoolers and add some Earth Day fun to any lesson while still practicing important learning concepts too.

More Preschool Earth Day Activities

Everyone knows that one of the best ways for children to learn, are through hands on activities. This write the room or Earth Day sensory bin activity is the perfect way to introduce math concepts to early learners in a fun way.

Simply toss these recycling bin cards in a sensory bin or hang them around the room for gross motor movement. As your students find each card, they will count the number of bottles in the bin. Then, color in the correct number on this Earth Day printable.

Get Ready, Recycle!

This game works well with groups of children. It functions as a relay race with two teams. 

Give each group a bin filled with materials that can be recycled: paper, plastic, and aluminum. At the other end of the classroom, set up 6 bins (3 for each team). Label the bins “paper,” “plastic,” and “aluminum.” 

Have your preschoolers run back and forth distributing the materials into the appropriate bins until one of the teams has completed the task. Then, check to see how successful they were while talking about what goes in each bin and why.

Even More Earth Day Activities for Kids

If you are looking for more counting practice this April, you’ve came to the right place. This fun count and cover Earth Day activity is an easy way to teach counting, numbers, and handwriting this Spring!

First, trace the numbers on the mat. Then, grab small items such as pom poms, mini erasers, bottle caps etc. to count out and place on the counting mat. You could also use the included recycling bin cards to match on top of the right number.

Earth Day Board Games to Play

If you’re searching for Earth Day activities that work best in a home setting, check out board games like Educational Insight’s Frida’s Fruit Fiesta. It’s a cooperative game where preschoolers work together to build fine motor skills and practice letter recognition. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to learn about the rainforest while helping Frida eat fruit and avoid the thieving monkeys.

Instead of traveling to the rainforest with Frida this Earth Day, you might want to focus on ocean conservation instead. If so, don’t miss another one of our favorite games from Educational Insights Sophie’s Seashell Scramble. In this game, your preschooler can practice patterns and matching while helping Sophie collect seashells. Earth Day fine motor activities like these are always a great choice for young learners and little hands.

Virtual Preschool Earth Day Activities & Projects

There are creative virtual preschool Earth Day activities you can do with your early learners from a distance too. Check out some of my favorite virtual Earth Day ideas for your preschool learners this Spring.

Climate Restoration for Kids

Climate Restoration for Kids is a virtual lesson about climate change and climate restoration. Climate restoration encourages us to set a goal of a safe and healthy climate and you can use this virtual lesson to introduce your preschoolers to this important concept for Earth Day.

Party for the Planet

Have some fun with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for a virtual party to celebrate our planet this Earth Day. This celebration combines learning about endangered species and our oceans. 

I hope these preschool Earth Day activities and ideas have inspired you to teach your early learners all about recycling and conservation this year. What’s your favorite way to learn about and celebrate Earth Day with preschoolers? Share your favorite Earth Day crafts and activities in the comments. I can’t wait to read them and try a few with my preschoolers too!