Fun and Educational Ways to Celebrate Earth Day with Kids

Earth Day is the perfect opportunity for teaching your children about environmental conservation and the world around us. In a time when most of us spend our days indoors in front of screens, it is important for us all to reconnect with our environment and engage in meaningful activities to honor Mother Nature.

Consider these five fun ideas to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd with your little ones.

1.  Watch Ecology Documentaries

Make your kids’ screen time count by consuming educational content about wild animals. Promoting ecological awareness is a good strategy to raise the next generation of eco-warriors. Ecology shows can illustrate how human activities impact wildlife populations.

Watching critters go about their day in their natural habitats also teaches your kids about the food chain, evolution and geography. Nature documentaries demonstrate how animals adapt to keep their species alive within their ecosystems. It’s important to explain that predators and prey are neither good nor bad. They behave as they do to survive, each playing a vital role in nature.

2.  Visit a Local Farm or Ranch

Touring a nearby farm or ranch lets your children closely interact with domesticated animals. A meet-and-greet with free-ranging and captive livestock differs from safe encounters with exotic beasts living in zoos. Farm or ranch visits give your young ones a primer on agriculture — an important subject to understand how humans rely on domesticated animals for sustenance.

Advancing agricultural knowledge encourages tots to eat healthy and curb food waste. This experience can also expose them to the adverse effects of some agricultural activities on the environment.

Awareness of the positives and negatives of agriculture can inspire your kids to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. This Earth Day activity can encourage them to innovate the industry to fight climate change without jeopardizing food security.

3.  Embark on Nature Walks

Roaming a national park effectively immerses your children in the great outdoors without going completely off the grid. Seeing pristine landscapes with modern amenities for recreation proves to children that nature and humans can coexist in harmony.

Hiking and going on guided tours in national parks can be scientific explorations. They allow school-age children to apply what they have learned in classrooms. For example, some material science lessons help young learners discover the differences between rocks and their applications. Naming rocks is a fun way for kids to test their geology knowledge.

National parks are biodiverse sanctuaries — the perfect place to spot various animals in the wild. Encourage your children to start an animal observation journal and log every critter they find. With binoculars and magnifying glasses, your little naturalists and biologists can have detailed looks at wildlife in the surroundings.

4.  Build a Terrarium

Terrariums allow you to witness the magic of plant life and how vegetation can thrive in ideal conditions without human intervention.

Terrariums can be as small as glass containers, so any jar big enough to house a small plant should do. You need gravel or pebbles to prevent water from stagnating, activated charcoal to discourage bacterial growth and potting soil to nourish plants.

Layer your supplies in the jar in a consistent order, and gently place your plants into the soil, from biggest to smallest. Decorations are optional. Remember, tropical plants need a closed greenhouse to create a humid ecosystem. In contrast, succulents and cacti thrive in arid environments, allowing them to survive in an open terrarium.

Place your terrarium in a spot with plenty of natural light — but not in direct sunlight. Monitor the soil’s moisture content to know when to spray water. Share monitoring and watering duties with your children so they can feel accomplished and responsible for this miniature garden.

5.  Cultivate a Garden

Working in a garden is a productive way to spend Earth Day. Gardening teaches children about botany and horticulture. Getting involved in gardening is an easy thing kids can do to be environmental stewards.

Growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices takes considerable work and energy. Realizing the laborious nature of crop cultivation can instill a newfound appreciation for food production in kids.

You can also bring the outdoors in, giving your space a sense of biophilia by placing ornamentals and blooms in the house and allowing kids to reap the benefits of being in nature from wherever they are.

Celebrate Earth Day in a Productive Way

These fun, educational activities capture the essence of Earth Day. They can wake up the eco-warriors in your children and inspire them to protect nature 365 days a year.

Author bio:  Cora Gold is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. She strives to live a happy and healthy life with her family by her side.
Follow Cora on Facebook and LinkedIn.