I love April. Spring, birds chirping, warm weather, evening walks with my family, allergies {haha just kidding..my allergies are AWFUL during this time of year but #balance right?} and of course, Earth Day.
Earth Day should be EVERY DAY, but it’s mainly celebrated and recognized in April. If you’re a teacher or homeschool parent, there are so many earth day activities you can incorporate into your classroom, especially some really cool STEM and Science activities! I also love incorporating more read alouds than normal throughout the month of April about Earth Day. In my classroom we always read and talk about conserving energy, conserving water, ways to reuse & repurpose items, the importance of recycling, and many other ways we can help protect our planet. Do you have activities planned for Earth Day?
Earth Day STEM Activities
At the end of March, I’ll ask my students and parents to please send in any clean recyclable items such as, water bottles, bottle caps, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, cardboard boxes, newspaper, cans, almost anything as you can see!! We will use these items in April.
There are so many STEM activities and challenges that can be done with all the recyclable items mentioned above! You could easily and accidentally spend HOURS on Pinterest pinning so many cool STEM activities for your kids! #Guilty But I’ve included some STEM activities and challenges below to hopefully save you some time! You can check them out by clicking the links below.
BUILDING WITH NEWSPAPERS STEM CHALLENGE Modern Parents Messy Kids
CARDBOARD TUBE MARBLE RUN Little Bins for Little Hands
EARTH CITY CHALLENGE {THIS ONE IS REALLY COOL!} Feel Good Teaching
STEM EARTHQUAKES Teachers are Terrific
CARDBOARD TUBE ACTIVITIES Little Bins for Little Hands
EARTH DAY SLIME {This is so fun!} A Sparkle of Genius
STEM Challenge Prompts
Another simple tip, hack, whatever you want to call it, is just giving my students STEM challenge prompts {I display the prompt on the whiteboard} and allowing them to use any of the recycled items they brought in, to complete the challenge! This is such an easy and fun way to bring STEM into your classroom!
Here’s an example of a STEM challenge I displayed on my whiteboard last year for my third graders.
“While going on an adventure in the rainforest, you became lost from your group. Using the materials provided, design a device to get their attention so they can find you.”
Free Earth Day Math Puzzle
If you know me or have seen my Unlock the Fact Math Puzzles floating around Pinterest or TPT, you know that I am all about content integration. My 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade April Unlock the Fact unit incorporates a ton of Earth Day facts that you and your students will definitely enjoy! I had so much fun creating this unit!
How These Earth Day Puzzles Work
Earth Day Activities: Scrambled Sentences
Lastly, who doesn’t love a good scrambled sentence activity? I love doing these with my students! If you’re also a fellow scrambled sentence lover, you can download these for free here. They’re in my free printable library.
If you’d like to save these ideas you can use the images below to pin to any of your Pinterest boards.
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