Celebrate Earth Day With 25 Great Crafts And Activities
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Earth Day is celebrated across the world on 22 April to help create awareness about the environment and climate change. It aims to encourage people to be greener through reducing, reusing and recycling waste to protect our planet for many years to come.
A great way to teach kids about the importance of recycling is to make it fun so we've rounded up 25 great Earth Day crafts to inspire your creativity! Empty those recycling bins and let's get creative!
1.Earth Day Lava Lamps
You’ll need: 2 empty jars or plastic bottles, water, Alka Seltzer tablets, green and blue food colouring and vegetable oil. For younger children, we recommend using plastic bottles over glass jars to prevent any accidents
A great Earth Day craft and science experiment all rolled into one! Making lava lamps is super simple to do and the kids will love them! Here’s a great step-by-step guide on how to make them!
2.Recycled Toilet Roll Bird Feeder
You'll need: 1 recycled toilet paper roll, peanut butter, a knife, string and some mixed bird feed
Encourage your kids to take care of our feathered friends outdoors this earth day by making bird feeders using recycled toilet rolls.
How to make your bird feeder: Pour out some bird feed onto some greaseproof paper and set it aside. Use the knife to spread peanut butter over the empty toilet roll, then roll it onto the bird feed, pressing gently until covered.
Now thread the string through your toilet roll and tie it in a knot. Find a suitable spot in your garden and get ready for some bird spotting!
3.Recycled Toilet Roll Binoculars
You'll need: 2 recycled toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper, glue stick, ribbons, scissors and a pen
Now you've made your bird feeder you'll have plenty of birds coming to visit, so why not make some binoculars to observe them?! Watch this step-by-step tutorial to show you how!
4.Ocean In An Egg Carton
You’ll need: 1 empty egg carton, blue paint, glitter glue, coloured card, green foam paper, small shells and pebbles
Create an underwater ocean scene out of recycled egg cartons for this fun earth day craft.
5.Earth Day Biscuits
You'll need: 100g softened sun salted butter, 100g caster sugar, 1 egg lightly beaten, 275g plain flour, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 400g icing sugar, 3-4 tbsp water, 2-3 drops of green and blue icing sugar
Whip up some tasty Earth Day biscuits to help celebrate Earth Day. Follow this basic biscuit recipe from BBC food then get creative decorating them using blue and green icing.
6.Earth Day Slime
It's fair to say that kids love slime, so here's a great recipe to make the perfect Earth Day slime- guaranteed to keep little hands busy for hours on end!
7.Earth Day Popcorn
You'll need: 8 cups of popped corn, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 3/4 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and blue and green food colouring
Celebrate Earth Day in style with some blue and green popcorn treats! Thanks to The Spruce Eats for this great recipe!
8.Egg Carton Hungry Caterpillars
You’ll need: 1 large empty egg carton, paints, 4 pipe cleaners and a felt tip pen
Create your very own hungry caterpillars using up empty egg cartons. Simply lay out all of your materials and start by painting your egg carton.
Allow the egg carton to dry then cut the carton down the middle creating two long strips. Pierce two small holes in the top of the first section on both pieces to make space for the caterpillar's antennas.
Poke your pipe cleaners through the holes and twist them to represent the antennas. Draw on your caterpillar's eyes and mouth and your hungry caterpillars are ready!
9.Hand Print Earth Day Art
You'll need: a piece of white card, blue and green paint
This is a fun Earth Day craft for kids who love messy, hands-on play! Use a large bowl as a template for cutting a circular shape out of the card. Squirt out some blue and green paints onto separate trays. Help the kids press their hands into the paint then onto the card to create their hand-printed earth.
10.Stained Glass Planet Earth Sun Catchers
You'll need: a paper plate, tracing paper, pen, scissors, blue and green tissue paper, PVA glue and black card
This is a great video tutorial to show you how to do it!
11.Earth Day Nature Collage
You’ll need: a paper plate, grass, leaves, twigs, flowers, a paintbrush and PVA glue
Take the kids outside to search for materials to use for your nature collage. Using a paintbrush cover the paper plate in PVA glue then simply stick on all of the flowers and leaves you’ve collected to make your Earth Day nature collage.
12.Earth Day Salt Dough Necklaces
You'll need: 1 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup table salt, 1/2 cup water, circular biscuit cutter, round metal icing tip, blue and yellow acrylic paints, paintbrush, ribbon, necklace fastener, craft beans and superglue
Wear the planet around your necks with these super fun salt dough necklaces. Perfect for Earth Day.
13.Make a Bug Hotel
Help bring your kids closer to nature and build your very own bug hotel using recycled materials. The kids will love getting their hand's dirty building somewhere for all the bugs and critters to call home.
As well as teaching your kids valuable lessons about recycling, they'll also be learning about ecosystems, habitats and food chains. Check out our blog on how to create the best bug hotel in town!
14.Recycled Magazine Earth Day Craft
You’ll need: old magazines, scissors, a paper plate, PVA Glue and a paper plate
Make use of old magazines fo this Earth Day craft. Cut up your old magazines into small pieces then use the paintbrush to cover your paper plate in PVA glue. Now simply stick on all of your cut up pieces to make your magazine earth.
15. Bottle-top Fish Art
Create your own underwater scene with fish's made from old bottle tops. Here’s a simple guide to show you how to do it. Why not add these to your egg carton ocean to complete your underwater scene!
16.Paper Maché Light Up Globes
If your feeling extra creative then this is a great Earth Day craft project to do with older children. Housing a Forest have a great step by step guide to creating your very own paper maché light up Earth.
17.Mosaic Earth Day Craft
You'll need: a paper plate, PVA glue, a paintbrush, blue and green tissue paper
Cut or rip the tissue paper into small pieces then using the paintbrush, cover the plate with PVA glue. Simply cover the plate with the tissue paper until your mosaic earth is complete.
18.Shaving Cream Marbled Earth
You’ll need: a paper plate, shaving foam, some green and blue paint and a paintbrush
Little hands will love getting messy creating their very own shaving foam earth. On a sheet of greaseproof paper squirt out your shaving foam in a large circular shape the same size as your paper plate.
Next, add a squirt of blue and green paint and use your paintbrush to gently swirl the colours so it's all mixed together. Now gently press the bottom of your paper plate onto your shaving foam and make sure it's all covered.
Take it off and let it dry. Your Marbled Earth is complete!
19.Earth Day Sensory Bottle
Celebrate Earth Day with a mess-free sensory activity perfect for little hands to explore and learn all through the clear window of a bottle.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to make yours!
20.Make A Hanging Planter
Recycle old plastic bottles to make your own hanging plants with this eco-friendly Earth Day craft. A fun project for encouraging kids to get green-fingered and into gardening.
21.Recycled Egg Carton Tree
You’ll need: a large Egg Carton, scissors, green paint, brown paint, a piece of white cards and PVA glue
Upcycle your empty egg cartons to create some tree art.
22.Tin Can Desk Tidy
Recycle used tin cans to store all of your stationary- a great way to teach your kids about recycling and to help you get organised at the same time.
You'll need: empty tin cans, fabric, ribbons, PVA glue, Paint, Glitter, Stickers
Here are some great ideas to inspire your imagination!
23.Recycled Materials Flower Art
Empty those recycling bins and dig out some materials you can turn into art. Cardboard, egg cartons, some white card, scissors and glue is all you'll need to create your own flower art. Here's some flower craft inspiration for you.
24.Recycled Newspaper Earth Day Garland
Decorate your house ready for Earth day with some Earth Day Garlands.
25.Recycled Crayon Craft
Are your craft drawers overflowing with broken and unwanted crayons? Rather than sending them to landfill here are some great ideas on how you can reuse and recycle old crayons.
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An avid explorer of the great outdoors and an enthusiast of creative hobbies, Sarah is a resident of Surrey who enjoys spending her free time discovering new places with her two young daughters. With a degree in her arsenal, she maintains her physical fitness by engaging in activities such as baking, crafting, gardening, and exercise. Her well-rounded personality, diverse interests, and adventurous nature make her an excellent addition to any team.
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2) At Kidadl, we strive to recommend the very best activities and events. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
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