Celebrate Earth Day with Your Kids in Meaningful Ways

April 22nd is Earth Day. And many people consider the entire month as Earth month. If you like to visit Pinterest, you’ll find gazillions of cutesy little crafts for kids to make to celebrate the Earth. The problem is that most of them use plastic bits and bobs that will eventually end up in a landfill, or paper that could have been saved…and it really saddens me.

Today, I’m sharing 25+ ways to celebrate Earth Day with your kids in a meaningful and fun way while honouring the very principles that will help keep our mother Earth healthy for years to come.

At the end of this post, you can find an image to share on Pinterest to spread the love – or a printable bookmark list to remind you of ways to celebrate!

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Whether you go big or small in your Earth Day celebrations, just the fact that you want this day to be meaningful for your children says a lot about you – and it gives me hope for our future.

25+ Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Go for a hike somewhere new. Try using Google Maps to find a natural area you haven’t explored, or a new trail system.
Walk or bike to school or work.
Grocery shop for a special meal that only uses locally sourced foods.
Make a nature mandala outside with found natural objects.

Test your toilets for leaks with a little food colouring.
Go bird-watching.
Go on a hunt for your local water reservoirs, towers and treatment plants, and make a model of them.
Read an inspiring environmental picture book. This is my favourite below, or check out my huge list of environmental books for kids for more inspiration.
Make some art using repurposed materials.
Challenge your family to go through the day without using any single-use plastics. (Straws, plastic wrap, plastic utensils, etc.)
Turn the heat down and declare it “Sweater Day”.
Go on a photo scavenger hunt in nature.

Fill a bag or two with litter from a local park or playground.
Plant a tree, a flower, a seed…anything!
Start a worm composter for your home.
Try to live for one day without creating any new garbage.
Explore a local stream or pond with an underwater magnifying glass.

Donate to an environmental charity. (My favourite is the David Suzuki Foundation.)
Build a stick fort outside.
Start a new garden plot or pot to grow veggies for this summer.
Leave an Earth Day message for others to enjoy using rocks or chalk.

Explore the wonders in a cup of soil.
Let your yellow mellow for the day.
Start a “Wonder” collection of natural objects: seeds, stones, fossils, leaves, etc.