Our planet is an amazing place, but it needs our help to thrive. That’s why each year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day is all about educating people about conservation and volunteering for the good of the planet. It’s also a great opportunity to spend some quality time with your kiddos in the great outdoors.
You can celebrate and protect the planet at the same time all while having fun as a family and encouraging your kiddos to respect Mother Nature.
1. Make earth cookies. Bake sugar cookies and decorate them with blue and green icing to represent Earth’s continents and oceans. Look at a globe or map for inspiration before you begin.
2. Volunteer for a neighborhood or beach clean-up. If there are no public events going on, plan one with your family or friends.
3. Make positive promises. Fill a journal with resolutions for how your family can help the earth. Decorate it with photographs, poems, and pictures.
4. Go hiking at a local park or nature reserve. Make it a scavenger hunt where you look for flora and fauna.
5. Decorate reusable canvas tote bags. Kids can personalize their own bags using fabric markers and fabric paint. Use them all year long for shopping, library books and sleepovers, or give them as one-of-a-kind gifts.
6. Make nature crowns. Nature crowns are a really fun and easy craft you can make and wear in celebration of Earth Day! No need to buy anything, just use whatever you can find in nature—flowers, grasses, clover, vines, sticks, dandelions or wildflowers. Be creative and have fun with it!
7. Plant perennials. Head to your local garden center and decorate your home the way mother nature intended—with flowers! Perennials (flowers that come back every year) are easy to plant and will be a colorful reminder of your gardening efforts year after year.
8. Document a sunrise (or a sunset). Bring the family outside armed with paper, crayons, markers, pastels, or chalk. Share the moment by everyone drawing the beautiful colors they see.
9. Make a homemade bird feeder. Give a gift to your backyard birds and make a bird feeder craft. You don’t even need birdseed—cereal like cheerios and peanut butter work just fine. We love these ideas from The Spruce Crafts.
10. Spread the love. Make and decorate Earth Day cards using recycled materials. Include an Earth Day celebration tip, and send them to friends and family.
