60 Earth Day Crafts, Activities & Food Ideas for Kids
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Mark your calendar this April 22nd for a day filled with Earth Day crafts, activities, and food!
Springtime is filled with flowers blooming, birds building nests, and animals being born.
It’s a perfect time to celebrate Earth Day!
Have fun this Spring and Download a FREE Week of Spring Activities!
Choose from 15 Earth Day foods, 15 Earth Day crafts, 15 upcycled crafts, and 16 Earth Day activities. (So, there are technically 61 different Earth Day crafts, activities, and food ideas for kids listed here. Bonus!)
And, you don’t really have to do these only on April 22nd.
Try these ideas all year round!
Happy Earth Day!
Earth Day Themed Food Ideas
Start a conversation about how our food grows this Earth Day while enjoying Earth Day food. You can even turn it into an Earth Day craft with food!
- Start your morning with Earth Day pancakes as seen on Creative Food. Green and blue food coloring mixed in the batter (in separate bowls) makes these pancakes one-of-a-kind. Just like our Earth!
- Decorate Earth Day toast found on My Kids Lick the Bowl. It may be a little messy, but even kids can do this!
- Enjoy an Earth Day yogurt as seen on Creative Food. This healthy treat is created with vanilla yogurt, food coloring, and granola.
- Create a fruit earth found on The Educators Spin On It. The ingredients include rice cakes, cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, blueberries, and grapes.
- Expand your horizons with a fruit pie as seen on Mama Guru. Cover a plate with blueberries, kiwi, and bananas for this treat.
- Craft an Earth Day lunch as shown on Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons. A peanut butter and jelly earth, broccoli and pretzel tree, and grape grass complete this meal.
- Taste Earth Day jello as seen on Tales of the Scotts. I would add some whipped topping to the top of the blue raspberry jello and lime jello for clouds. Yummy!
- Munch on an Earth Day treat found on More Time 2 Teach. You will need white chocolate, blue and green candy melts, graham crackers, and M&Ms (or some other candy or crushed cookie).
- Enjoy a Rice Krispy earth as seen on Once A Mom Always A Cook. What kid doesn’t enjoy an ooey gooey treat?
- Bake Earth Day muffins shown on No Time for Flashcards. Craft these with green food coloring and blueberries this Earth Day.
- Make Earth Day cupcakes with clouds seen on Mrs. Fields. White frosting clouds look so good!
- Uncover an earth cupcake surprise found on Simply Today Life. This cupcake is stuffed with a surprise. Are you curious what it could be? You’ll have to click on the link to find out! This reminds me of the different layers of the earth.
- Plant a sprout dirt cupcake as seen on Thrifty DIY Diva. This looks so realistic!
- Dig into some dirt pudding found on My Price Chopper. I love how you can see the layers of the dirt in the plastic cups. Don’t forget the worms!
- Crunch on some Earth Day popcorn as seen on Simple As That Blog. This also includes directions on how to make an Earth Day cup for the popcorn!
Earth Day Crafts for Kids
Enjoy some Earth Day crafts this Earth Day. There are fifteen here to choose from!
- Wrap your hands around a handprint heart earth as seen on Crafty Morning. A phrase from a song got stuck in my head after seeing this!
- Stick a hand on a paper plate earth like Glued to My Crafts. A paper plate, some paint, tissue paper, and construction paper is needed to make this craft.
- Create a marbled earth found on I Heart Crafty Things. Shaving cream is used for the marbled look. Gorgeous!
- Press a smoosh painted earth as seen on Happy Hooligans. This reminds me of sensory bags but has a really neat end result.
- Paint a balloon stamped earth found on I Heart Arts N Crafts. All you need are some balloons, cardstock, and blue and green paint.
- Design a black glue earth as shown on Messy Little Monster. The black glue really makes the lines of the earth stand out. A free template for this craft and some Earth Day questions are also available if you choose to use them.
- Enjoy a stained glass earth found on Mum in a Mad House. This is not a quick craft. But you will have many hours of enjoying the beauty of it in your window once it is complete. A template is available to ease the process.
- Glue together a paper earth collage as seen on I Heart Crafty Things. Kids can practice their fine motor skills by tearing magazine pages for this craft. I love all the different shades of greens and blues!
- Create a tissue paper plate earth like the one on Happy Hooligans. Green tissue paper is used for the land.
- Try another earth collage as seen on Kitchen Counter Chronicle. It’s okay if it is not perfect!
- Rotate around a plate as you create a weaving paper plate earth found on Pre-K Pages. Kids will go around a plate like the earth goes around the sun!
- Bake a salt dough earth found on Little Bin for Little Hands. These are made with flour, salt, and water. All supplies you probably already have on hand at home!
- Gather your broken crayons to craft earth day crayons as seen on Todays Creative Life. Each crayon creation is unique! If you are looking for more crayon ideas, check out these 36 things to do with crayons for kids and adults.
- Grow an Earth Day daisy found on Buggy and Buddy from a straw, cardstock, and cupcake liners. This would be beautiful on the front of a card. A printable is available to use if desired.
- Decorate a paper mache earth like the one seen on The Crafty Classroom. This is a great introduction to globes!
Upcycled Crafts for Earth Day
Another great way to celebrate Earth Day is to upcycle materials for crafts.
There are so many unique options available! You can use corks, toilet paper tubes, newspaper, egg cartons, broken crayons, plastic bottles, and more.
What do you have on hand that you can use?
Below are some craft ideas that use tin cans, plastic bottles, jars, plastic lids, oatmeal containers, toilet paper tubes, and bottle caps. Enjoy!
- Listen to the sound of tin can windchimes found on Hands On As We Grow. Glitter makes these sparkle as they blow in the breeze!
- Beat on some tin can drums as seen on Make and Takes. Pencils, paint brushes, or even toilet paper tubes can become drumsticks!
- Grow a tin can forest like Hands On As We Grow with materials you find outside. Sticks, leaves, flowers, and plants fill this forest! Here are 27 more tin can crafts and activities for kids to try if you can’t make it outside today.
- Decorate a tinted jar as seen on Hands On As We Grow. As an added bonus, use the jar to store pens, pencils, or other craft supplies. What kind of jar will you use?
- Create a bottle suncatcher like the one found on Our Family Code. I love the way these suncatchers twirl! Aren’t they stunning?
- Paint bottle stamp flowers found on Hands On As We Grow. The bottom of a plastic bottle creates a lovely flower. And blowing through a straw to create the stems is so much fun!
- Stamp some wrapping paper as seen on Hands On As We Grow. Plastic bottles, bubble wrap, toilet paper tubes, and more can be used as stamps. Best of all, the wrapping paper can be used for gifts!
- Make a bottle cap flower like the one on Crafty Morning. The flower would look beautiful on the front of a Mother’s Day card. Earth Day and Mother’s Day project in one!
- Play lid frisbee as shown on Hands On As We Grow. To turn this activity into a craft, decorate the plastic lids first.
- Sort cards with a container card activity found on Hands On As We Grow. The oatmeal containers can be wrapped in paper, painted, stamps, or filled with stickers if desired. This activity is a great way to practice shapes, colors, and numbers. All while upcycling!
- Construct a marble run like the one seen on Lemon Lime Adventures. I love the idea of creating a blueprint before construction. What will your little engineer come up with?
- Enjoy a toilet roll stamp as seen on Taming Little Monsters. All you need are toilet paper tubes, scissors, paint, and paper. There are so many ways to paint with toilet paper. Have fun with your own techniques!
- Don’t get bored with a cardboard board game similar to the one on Hands On As We Grow. Grab whatever you have on hand and enjoy!
- Solve a cardboard puzzle as seen on Hands On As We Grow. Thin cardboard from cereal boxes or pasta boxes work well for this craft. Upcycle a plastic container to store this puzzle, so it can be used over and over again.
- Enjoy some bookmarks found on Hands On As We Grow. These reuse old cards and make beautiful gifts for others.
More Earth Day Crafts & Activities
This Earth Day list wouldn’t be complete without some activities you can do to celebrate Earth Day. Stay inside or go outside; get up and move around or stay stationary; whatever your preference, I have some fun options for you.
- Explore on a nature walk. Little scientists can learn so much from exploring nature. Don’t forget to pack a small bag with a notebook (also known as the nature walk scrapbook), writing utensils, resealable bags (to collect items), a magnifying glass, binoculars, and playdough. And take lots of pictures!
- Visit a nature center or park. Many nature centers offer free or low cost activities throughout the year. My daughters and I have enjoyed butterfly tagging, bird banding, geocaching, looking through a telescope, tasting fresh maple syrup, digging up artifacts like an archaeologist, weaving baskets, and more through these events. There’s nothing like a hands-on experience! So, make sure to check out the nature center’s calendar of events when planning your trip.
- Virtually tour a national park. When going outside or traveling isn’t an option, go virtual. No need to pack a bag, travel a distance, or pay a fee when it is all at your finger tips!
- Check out these 70+ virtual field trip opportunities for even more virtual tours to learn about animals, planets, recycling, and growing food. You can virtually travel to zoos, aquariums, observatories, museums, recycling centers, farms, and more. My favorites were the videos on how different foods are grown, harvested, processed, and used. Perfect for Earth Day!
- Go on an Earth Day scavenger hunt. A free download is available if desired. Otherwise, you could create your own scavenger hunt. What will you search for first? I love that the download includes spaces for bark rubbings and flower sketches. It also has space to list three things you hear. A great way to incorporate different senses!
- Plant seeds in pots made from newspaper or in upcycled planters. You have probably heard the phrase, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!” These pots and planters put that phrase into action. Reuse newspaper for the pots, and reuse juice cartons for the planters. So much cuter than when my family used kitty litter bins for our garden!
- Grow seeds in jars. Clear jars allow little ones to see how the seeds grow. What happens to the seed? What is growing from the seed? Do all plants grow the exact same? These are all questions they can answer as they watch the process. Recording results in a seed journal adds to the experience.
- Spread flowers by making and throwing seed bombs. Construction paper holds these seed bombs together until it decomposes to allow the seeds to disperse. Another option is to make seed bombs with clay. The clay method is the way I have seen it done at a nature center event.
- Create a butterfly and bee garden. Butterflies and bees may be small, but their impact is huge! Consider how their existence affects the food chain. What would happen if we didn’t have them around to pollinate our plants? You can learn even more about butterflies with these 75+ caterpillar and butterfly crafts, snacks, and activities for kids.
- Make a bird feeder. There are so many options to choose from such as this wreath bird feeder or this cereal bird feeder (perfect for fine motor practice) or this beautiful heart bird feeder. Which one will attract the most birds?
- Learn what happens when you mix milk and vinegar with this plastic milk experiment. Keep in mind that the experiment must sit for 48 hours before it is complete. But you can use that time to learn about plastic and try a fun plastic bottle activity.
- Make a recycled paper earth. This is a great activity to teach kids about recycling paper. Is recycling on a small scale like this actually better for the Earth? This involves using a blender, heating an oven for four hours, and consuming paper towels. How is this similar or different to how recycling centers would recycle paper? I love activities like this that spark critical thinking!
- Experiment with an oil spill clean up. Does absorbing, removing, or cleaning work best? What happens if you put a feather in the oil? Is there a difference between Dawn dish soap and another dish soap? There are so many questions that can be explored with this simple, yet relevant experiment.
- Sort metal, paper, plastic, and glass. Introduce this activity with a field trip to the recycling center. This is a short video that shows how the recycling is sorted and what happens afterward. Kids will be eager to sort the recyclables after watching this!
- Compost in a jar. My family has composted for years, but I love the idea of showing this in a jar! You can see first hand how newspaper and kitchen scraps decompose to make fresh soil. If you have never composted before, there are some rules to what can and cannot be composted. Check out this list for more information.
- Read books to celebrate Earth Day. Any book about animals, plants, water, recycling, or Earth are appropriate for Earth Day. I love the variety! My sister’s birthday happens to be on Earth Day, so I am partial to the book Earth Day, Birthday! by Maureen Wright. Happy reading!
