Easy Ideas and Activities to do with kids to celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day 2021 is Thursday 22nd April. Here are a few ideas as to what you can do to do your little bit to help as a family whilst we are living in these unprecedented times.

Litter Picking – whilst on a daily exercise, take a bag and pick up any rubbish you see.

Plants – identifying plants and chat about the plant cycle. Picture This is a great App which is very handy for this.

Scavenger Hunt on your walk.

Grow food – plant seeds to grow your own food to reduce food miles and therefore, do a little bit to support the environment. Here is a link to the Gardening blog. Cress is always a winner and so easy!!

Recycling – junk modelling from the recycling box. Depending on the age of your children, you could talk about the different materials and what else is made of those materials.

Bake your favourite cookie, biscuit recipe or simple gingerbread and let the kids decorate with icing to look like the planet earth by mixing blue and green icing and rolling out then cutting to the shape of the biscuit.

Simple gingerbread recipe:

10oz self raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tbs golden syrup
3oz margarine or stork
5oz soft sugar
1 egg

1. Sift the flour bicarbonate of soda and ginger together
2. Warm syrup, margarine and sugar
3. Mix together
4. Stir in the egg
5. Bring together into a workable dough
6. Roll out and cut to shape
7. Place on baking tray covered with greaseproof paper
8. Cook at 180 degrees Celsius for approx. 15 mins or until light brown.
9. Allow to cool and place on wire rack
10. Decorate as the world!

Make a kid friendly bird feeder – take some lard and mix into balls – tie with string. If struggling to keep on the string, you can do this with a pine cone in the centre. Hang in a prominent position and see which birds pay you a visit!

DIY bug hotel – this can be done with something as simple as an old tin (from your baked beans or even better if you have some sort of wooden box or natural box) – pack with twigs, moss and any other natural things that you think would be inviting for a bug to live in! Place in your garden and wait for your residents to arrive!

Carbon footprint – paint your foot with black paint and then suggest ways you can reduce your carbon footprint – eg. turn off electrical items, recycle, bike or walk rather than drive, compost waste food, turn off the lights, don’t waste food etc.

Model the world! With play-doh or clay into a ball, layer red, orange, yellow, brown, blue and green to represent inner core, outer core, mantle, crust, water and land then cut in half!