Earth Day Crafts for Kids
Celebrate Earth Day by digging into earth day crafts for kids. From projects that help the environment, to at-home activities that bring some nature indoors, Earth Day crafts help you better understand the nature of the world around you.
In this article, you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to create projects that bring meaning to Earth Day, but are appropriate for any day of the year.
Garbage Gobbler
Garbage finds its home in a box you create to look like a friendly monster looking for extra trash.
Animal Alphabet Game
How many animals inhabit our big planet? Play this game with your friends and see who can name the most in alphabetical order.
Insect Detectives
Get out your magnifying glass and find creepy crawlers. Draw a picture of your favorite bugs and go to the library to learn more about them.
Felt Weather Channel
Be your own weather forecaster with a felt weather channel you can create out of felt and shapes.
Bonsai
Bonsai is a type of tree you can plant and watch grow in your house. Prune its leaves to maintain healthy, but limited, growth indoors.
Caterpillar Pals
Caterpillars are some of nature's cutest creatures and now you can make one of your very own with materials from mom's closet.
Look forward to Earth Day with fun-filled Earth Day crafts that show you how important our planet is. Get started now with a garbage gobbler that will "eat up" all your trash.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Garbage Gobbler
Make an Earth Day Garbage Gobbler to help with trash pick-up around your neighborhood on Earth Day.
What You'll Need:Large cardboard box
Scissors
Paint
Paintbrushes
Extra cardboard
Glue
24 inches of thin rope
Work gloves
On Earth Day, people all over the world are celebrating the earth's wonderful natural resources. Think of what the planet would be like without green grass, clean oceans, or the lovely smell of fresh flowers.
When people neglect to throw their trash in garbage cans, they are destroying this natural beauty. That's where you and your Garbage Gobbler come in to save the day.
Have an adult help you cut or fold the flaps of a cardboard box so that the top is open. This is the Garbage Gobbler's big, empty belly.
Paint the box to look like a fantastic creature. Nobody has ever seen a Garbage Gobbler before, so you can make your creature look however you want.
An adult can help you cut a nose, tail, and ears from the extra cardboard. Attach these parts to the Gobbler with glue. When the paint is dry, ask an adult to cut a small hole in the front of the box to attach the rope for the Gobbler's leash.
Once you have your Garbage Gobbler ready, walk it around your neighborhood and start filling up it's empty belly with trash.
Wear work gloves when you pick up trash, and be very careful of broken glass. Also, don't forget to wash your hands after you a done feeding the Garbage Gobbler.
Get ready to name all the animals you can think of, in alphabetical order. Learn how you can play this memory game with your friends for more Earth Day fun.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Animal Alphabet Game
While you work on Earth Day crafts projects, try playing this animal alphabet game.
This is a game for two or more people. It will help you remember different kinds of animals -- and maybe help you learn a few more!
Count off to decide what order you will play in. Player one thinks of an animal, such as elephant. Elephant ends with the letter T, so player two must think of an animal that begins with the letter T.
Any animal will do, including insects, sea creatures, mammals, reptiles, birds, even dinosaurs and other creatures that once walked the earth. But you can use an animal only once!
When the last player thinks of an animal name, the first player must think of an animal that begins with the last letter. If you want to make the game harder, play only sea creatures, land dwellers, or birds.
Now you can play another game, this time with the insect world. Learn more about your favorite creepy crawlers by drawing their pictures and taking your artwork to the library to look up more information.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Insect Detectives
Insect Detectives troll the back yard to locate and document exotic insects. Try your hand at this unusual craft and learn more about the insect world in your back yard.
What You'll Need:Sketch pad
Colored pencils
Magnifying glass
Whether you have a well-kept yard or a forest out back, you can be sure of one thing: There are creepy-crawly creatures living all around you. In fact, unless you live in the arctic, there is a spider not more than
three feet away from you right now!
But don't worry. It's not watching you with its eight spider eyes. It's looking for insects to eat.
Take your sketch pad and pencils and go find out who they are! Do you know their names?
Each bug you find has an important job to do. It's part of the ecosystem in which they, and you, live.
Can you figure out what it eats? What do you think would eat this insect? How do you think this insect is important to the ecosystem? After drawing them, take your pictures to the library and do a little research for fun.
The weather is about to change. Make sure your family knows before they head out for the day with a felt weather channel that predicts sunshine, rain and more with fun cut-out shapes and decoration.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Felt Weather Channel
Now you can play forecaster on Earth Day -- and every day -- with a felt weather channel that uses colorful weather symbols to show your predictions for the coming days.
What You'll Need:Cardboard
Scissors
Colored felt
Pencil
Ruler
Clear cellophane
Glue
Colored tape
Puffy fabric paint
If you've ever dreamed of becoming a weather person, here's your chance. Make your own weather channel, and treat the family to a morning and evening forecast.
Find or cut two same-sized pieces of cardboard. Glue a piece of dark felt onto one so it covers it completely. On the other piece of cardboard, draw a large square opening with a 1-inch border all around.
Cut out the opening so you have a frame. Cut a piece of clear cellophane to match the frame's size. Glue the cellophane to the wrong side of the frame. This is the TV screen.
Attach the screen to the background by taping a piece of colored tape along the length of the top borders to make a hinge. Be sure to tape it loosely so that the screen can be lifted easily enough for you to place your weather symbols inside.
Cut different weather symbols out of colored felt. Cut a sun, puffy white clouds, dark storm clouds, umbrellas, snow people, snowflakes, rain drops, and lightning bolts. Decorate them with puffy fabric paint.
You are ready to forecast. Use your best weather person announcer voice to let folks know that a storm is coming their way.
Plant your very own bonsai tree for Earth Day and watch it grow before your eyes. Learn how you can care for it and cut its leaves into fun designs.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Bonsai
This Earth Day, commit to nurturing a bonsai tree. These small trees must be tended to often, and will help you learn more about the natural world.
What You'll Need:Potting soil
Sand
Copper wire
Shallow clay pot
Gravel
Juniper seedling
Manicure scissors
Bonsai trees are trained and clipped so that they don't grow very big. It doesn't hurt the tree. In fact, bonsai trees can live for over 100 years!
Find a juniper seedling growing in your yard or buy one at a nursery. Select a shallow clay pot with a hole in the bottom for drainage.
Put a 12-inch piece of copper wire in the pot with one inch sticking out the bottom hole. Spread a layer of gravel in the bottom of the pot. Set the baby tree in the pot.
Wrap the copper wire around the root ball -- be sure to keep one inch sticking out of the bottom hole. Bend the end flat to hold the tree in place.
Fill the rest of the pot with a mixture of 3/4 potting soil and 1/4 sand, and water it well.
After a few weeks, wrap pieces of copper wire around the tree's branches, and carefully twist them. Clip the tips of the branches so they do not grow too long. Water your bonsai well once the soil has dried out completely.
Caterpillars are crawling your way! Find out how to make cuddly crawlers with materials in mom's closet.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
Caterpillar Pals
Caterpillar pals are a fun and easy Earth Day craft. Try making a few this Earth Day, and give them as presents to your friends.
What You'll Need:Light-colored nylons or knee-high hose
Cotton or polyester fiberfill
Three small rubber bands
Fabric paints
Tie a knot in the end of the nylons. Pull it tight. Measure back about six inches from the knot. Cut the nylons. Turn the tube inside out, and stuff it with fiberfill.
Tie a knot in the other end for the caterpillar's tail. Trim the excess material that hangs from the knot. Wiggle the filler material around until the tube looks like a worm.
Wrap a rubber band around the middle of the caterpillar's body. The tighter the rubber bands, the fatter the caterpillar.
Wrap the second rubber band halfway between the first one and the tail and the third one halfway between the first one and the nose. Decorate with fabric paint. Let paint dry.
For more fun holiday activities and crafts, see:- Kids' Crafts
- Holiday Crafts
- Kids' Activities
- Kids Activities