Simple Earth Day Activity Nature Walk

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Simple Earth Day Activity Nature Walk

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Earth Day everyday!  What better way to celebrate Earth Day than getting outside?  I wanted to do an Earth Day activity that I could do at school with my students, and at home with my own kids. This activity was a hit… and it was really easy to prepare.

I love being outside and place a lot of value on outdoor education, especially with young children. Being outside encourages children to appreciate nature and the outdoors. Earth Day is a great chance to celebrate and focus on our amazing planet.

I wanted to spend a little bit of time focusing on a few simple, but important things that kids can do to help the Earth.

This activity gave us the chance to discuss ways to conserve and protect the environment, be outside and active and do a bit of printing.

earth day activity

Fill your whole Earth Day with related activities for kids. The scavenger hunt and even an Earth Day recycled craft is a great way to celebrate that kids are sure to love.

For more Earth Day ideas and resources, check out this collection of Earth Day Books for Kids.

I lucked out with a great day and beautiful weather.  For this Earth Day activity I placed 5 signs with messages to keep in mind to help the earth. You can use any message that you want to focus on. The 5 I used were: 

  • Save Water
  • Spend Time Outside
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
  • Be Kind to All Animals
  • Save Electricity
earth day activity

The wooden signs that I used worked out well because I could stake them into the ground. They were also easy to print the messages on.

If you don’t have wooden signs like this you can simply use construction paper with the message printed on it and then attached to a popsicle stick. You can then stake the popsicle stick into the ground.

I have also done a similar activity and I simply wrote the messages in chalk on the sidewalk. Either way children will love being outside and searching for the messages.

Materials

You don’t need a lot of materials for this activity and the prep is minimal.

  • Signs
  • Earth Day Worksheet (Available for Free to Download Below)

Ahead of time, I wrote the 5 messages onto the signs and then placed them around our school outside. Make sure to place them in safe places because children will be running and excited for their Earth Day scavenger hunt.

If you are doing the activity with older children, you can hide the signs in more difficult places. It will add to the challenge!

earth day activity

Although I did this activity in a school setting, if you are doing the hunt at home, you could place the signs around the house, backyard or even at a park.

To help the children find some of the signs easier I used balloons, stone footprints, tree faces and other visual markers to draw a bit of attention to the Earth Day signs. Kids loved finding the face on the tree and the other visual markers.

earth day activity

I created a worksheet for children to each have a copy of. The worksheet is an easy way to integrate a bit of writing, but it is also a great way to keep children engaged and focused.

The sheet includes each of the messages that I placed around on the signs. However, a word from each sign is missing. Children were responsible for filling out their sheets as we completed the hunt.

A free copy of the worksheet is available at the bottom of this post.

Earth Day Activity

Once all of the signs were hidden, we walked around the school on our little scavenger hunt until we found a message.  Once we found a message, everyone gathered around and we talked a little bit about the Earth Day tip.

earth day activity

We discussed ways to save water and electricity and what they could do as children to help our Earth. Also, we talked about what it means to be kind to all animals and all living things. We discussed a little bit about each message.

Taking a minute at each sign to talk about the message made the activity more meaningful. Children really thought about what they could do, and why it was important for them to do it.

We also talked about the fact that it is not only on Earth Day that it is important to care for the Earth and the environment. It has to be every day.

Next, everyone used their worksheet and the message on the sign and filled in the missing word from the sheet. Completing a worksheet also gives children something to take home and discuss with their family.

Children loved walking around outside together and searching for our Earth Day messages. It was a great reason to be outside.

My students loved the little extra visual markers, such as the tree face that I put outside. I left some of them out after our hunt was over. I like the idea that when children saw them as they played months later, they remembered our Earth Day hunt and hopefully everything we talked about.

earth day activity

If you want to keep with the fun of Earth Day, try creating an adorable Earth Day craft. My kids and students would love this! Earth Day Craft for Kids

Earth Day Scavenger Hunt Worksheet

Save some time by downloading and printing the worksheet used for this Earth Day activity. Click the image below and subscribe to Hands-On Teaching Ideas.

By subscribing, you have access to the Earth Day worksheet as well as access to my Free Resource Library, filled with free printable activities and educational products. You will also receive emails with my latest blog posts, freebies and sales.

Earth Day Printable Activities

Celebrate Earth Day with educational learning activities. This printable “I love the Earth” flip book is filled with various Earth themed activities, from math work to writing and a crossword puzzle keep kids learning and celebrating our amazing planet.

Click link for more information, or to purchase.

More Hands-On Teaching Ideas

If you are looking for more activities and ideas to do in the classroom, or at home with kids, below are some of my favourite and most popular learning activities.

From a collection of outdoor learning activities and DIY escape rooms that you can create at home to recycled arts and crafts and printables, there are lots of things to keep kids busy and learning. Click image for activity description.

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