Earth Day Activities for Kindergarten: Engaging, Educational, and Eco-Friendly Lessons & Centres

April 8, 2025

Nurturing a Love for the Earth from the Start

Earth Day isn’t just a calendar event—it’s a powerful teaching moment for Kindergarteners to explore how they can help protect our planet. Through age-appropriate lessons and imaginative play, we can guide young learners to practice sustainable habits, and build empathy for the environment. In this post, I’ll walk you through my favourite hands-on Earth Day activities for Kindergarten and engaging center ideas that blend fun with foundational eco-conscious learning!

The Importance of Earth Day in Early Childhood Education

Introducing Earth Day to Kindergarteners goes beyond celebrating a single day—it’s about planting values that last a lifetime. At this developmental stage, children are naturally curious, compassionate, and eager to explore the world around them. Earth Day lessons provide a meaningful way to channel that curiosity into real-world awareness and responsibility!

Earth Day Lessons for Kindergarten Classrooms

1. Ways We Can Help the Earth

When teaching about Earth Day, I find the best way to make this accessible for young learners is to read books and talk about actionable ways THEY can make a difference! Some of my favourite books to learn about ways students can help take care of the Earth include 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh, The EARTH Book by Todd Parr and I Can Save the Earth! by Alison Inches.

Then we make an “Ways We Can Help the Earth” anchor chart as a class and then invite each student to make a craft and writing piece to show their learning! I always tell them that we can help other students and teachers learn more about how to take care of the Earth with out bulletin board and that gives this activity an even bigger sense of purpose❤️

2. Protecting Our Oceans: Say No to Plastic

For this lesson, we first read the book Ocean Soup: A Recipe for You, Me and a Cleaner Sea by Meeg Pincus (No More Plastic by Alma Fullerton would also work!) and then I asked them a few recall questions about how we can help to keep the ocean clean to check their comprehension.

Then I presented them with this sensory bin! I told them, “Oh no, the ocean is full of plastic and garbage! Let’s help the animals by cleaning it all up!” Then I had them use the plastic tweezers to take the plastic and garbage out of the bin and into a separate container.

As expected, my kids LOVED this activity and my 4 year old was especially passionate about getting all the plastic out of the “ocean”. This was a great centre to boost fine motor and sorting skills while also increasing environmental awareness! A win-win!

Want the full lesson plans and all of the other centres shown in this post? You can find it in my “Kindergarten Earth Day Centres: Literacy, Math, Fine Motor & More” pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Earth-Day-Centres-Literacy-Math-Fine-Motor-More-13281690

What about after the lessons? Here’s some hands-on centre ideas to reinforce the concepts taught during the lessons or simply to practice skills that many students need review with at this time of the year!

Earth Day Learning Centers for Kindergarten

1. Sort & Trash, Recycle or Compost

A simple way to reinforce and/or expose students to what goes in the trash, recycling bins and the compost bin! You can choose to do all or just the types of recycling/composting available in your classroom. I only did 5 types but there is a “glass” recycling label and corresponding image cards included as well!

Option #2: Sorting Real Recyclables

Earth Day Centre Idea Sorting Recycling Using Real Items

You could also set a recycling centre up like this! The benefit of this set-up is that students are engaging with real recyclables which helps to make the idea more concrete. The downside is you probably wont be able to explore sorting composting. Or you could do one version one week and the other version the next week to switch it up!

2. Turning Dried Up Markers Into Paint!

This is one of my favourite Earth Day activities! I start collecting dried up markers a few weeks before Earth Day/week and once I have at least 3-4 for each colour, I show the students how we can make watercolour paint using dried up markers! Simply take the cap off, fill a cup with some water and dip the markers tip side down into the water. Then leave it for at least a few hours (or do it before home time so it will be ready for the students the next morning!)

Then we put out some newspaper or GOOS paper* and let students create whatever they like!

*What is GOOS paper?

GOOS paper stands for “Good On the Other Side” paper and is paper that is blank on the one side. I’ve been doing this forever so I can’t remember how I learned of this originally, but basically I take any paper that is good on the other side (worksheets I over copied or copied by accident) and stick them in a bin for the students to use! I do this all year, but if you haven’t started yet after Earth Day lessons is a great time to start!

Once they’ve had a few days to explore, we set out these cut up circles and have students paint an Earth using the blue and green paints.

3. Earth Day Word Chart + Mini Book

This is a staple in my holiday and seasonal centre rotation! It’s low prep and an easy way to keep students practicing their drawing, labeling and writing skills! The word chart can be used with paper (remind student’s to use GOOS (good on the other side) paper or make it a whiteboard only centre to reinforce the concept of using less paper!).

As usual, the mini book comes in 3 different versions so you can easily differentiate and use the version(s) that best fit the needs of your class/groups!

4. CVC Trash or Match

I know a lot of you are continuing to work on decoding CVC words with your students so here’s a fun centre to practice that skill! Simply have students read the CVC cards and decide if it’s a real word or a nonsense word. If it’s a nonsense word, it goes in the trash (I just taped the printable trash can to a little bin). It it’s a real word, they find the matching picture and put them together.

The recording sheets are optional, but I included both a colour version you can laminate or a B&W version that can be printed on copy paper and used with a pencil!

5. Earth Day Build & Trace

This has been another centre that has gotten a ton of great feedback, with many of you saying that it’s your students’ favourite centre! My kids and classes always loved snap cubes centres so it’s not a huge surprise and snap cubes are amazing for developing stronger finger muscles, which is necessary for better printing skills!

6. Flip, Recycle & Trace

Number formation is another skill that many students need practice all year, so here’s a fun but simple twist on it! Students flip a card, put that many recyclables (I used plastic water bottle caps as my manipulative) in the “recycling bin” (I used a printable but if you have a table top recycling bin, even better!).

Then they trace the corresponding number on the recording sheet! There is also a
“Pick, Recycle & Trace” version that you can use with magnetic numbers instead of the number cards! (And it’s a simple way to reinforce using what we already have, rather than making something new when possible😉)

7. Earth Day Measure & Record

This one is another staple in my centre rotation! It’s easy to prep and a hands-on way to works on a variety of skills (non-standard measurement, 1:1 correspondence, number formation) at the same time!

You can use snap cubes or water bottle caps would be a fun way to mix up the manipulative and on theme!

8. Subtract & Recycle

I know a lot of Kindergarten classrooms are learning or reviewing subtraction right now, so I made sure to include a subtraction centre too!

You can keep it super simple by just using the cards with magnetic letters (I taped a printable recycling bin to a medium size bin, but if you have a tabletop recycling bin that would work even better!) or add the recording sheet (shown below).

Students can be directed to count out the first number (I used plastic bottle caps as the manipulative) and then “recycle” the second number by putting the manipulatives in the “recycling bin”. The number they have left is the answer! Answers can be recorded with dry erase markers, magnetic letters or with a pencil on the recording sheet😉

9. Earth Day Scavenger Hunt (Freebie!)

This is a great way to get kids outside, learn to appreciate nature and look for Earth friendly items in your school yard/neighbourhood!

We like to take the class out to the field or a nearby park with our big buddies for this activity. This way the buddies can help them look for things and also pick up the litter safely if you choose to do that version!

Afterwards they can play with their buddies outside or draw a picture on the back😉

Want this FREE printable? (There is also a color version for both if you need the American spelling!) Click here or on the button below!

Growing Green Minds Starts in Kindergarten!

By making Earth Day meaningful and fun, we nurture a lifelong love of the planet in our youngest learners. These hands-on, thoughtful activities not only align with early childhood best practices but also build the foundation for responsible, eco-conscious citizens💙💚

Ready to make learning about Earth Day unforgettable but easy in your classroom? Grab my “Kindergarten Earth Day Centres: Literacy, Math, Fine Motor & More” here or by clicking on the image below!