7 Earth Day activities for families

earth day activities families

Earth Day is an annual event designed to highlight the serious environmental problems that we are facing, from the climate crisis to air pollution and deforestation. This theme for 2021 is ‘Restore Our Earth’.

While I think every day should be Earth Day, today is a great time to sit and talk with your children, about why it is important we take care of our planet, about the problems that we are facing, and ways in which we can make a difference.

Earth Day is a day to come together, as a family, as a community, as a country, as a world to take action. To talk about reducing, reusing, recycling, global warming, climate change, how the decisions we make as individuals can affect the whole world.

Action begins at home… teaching our children that what they do does count and matter is a vital first step. Raise them to love our Earth, to treat her with respect and to take care of her.

DITCH THE SINGLE USE PLASTICS

Single-use plastics take up to 450 years to decompose, making them a huge issue. Cutting back our usage of them is essential. Buy loose fruit that isn’t in trays, witch plastic straws for metal or bamboo ones, take reusable bags when you go shopping, your own coffee cup to the coffee shop, use refillable water bottle…. every little helps.

GROW YOUR OWN

Kids love gardening, and growing your own fruit and veg is a great way to reduce your environmental footprint. Beans, tomatoes, strawberries, peas, salad leaves, radishes, potatoes – all super easy to grow! You could even utilise some old tin cans to start your seeds in! Plus, fussy eaters are more likely to try something they have grown themselves.

GET OUT IN NATURE

Cultivating a love of nature helps your kids feel more connected to the Earth and have a reason to take care of her. Pack a picnic, and head out to a river or park. Talk about all the different types of trees or flowers you can see, listen out for the birds singing, do some bug hunting, cloud spotting and hug a tree or three.

LEAVE THE CAR AT HOME

Make a pact to have a car-free day {and maybe repeat it once a week}. Cars contribute hugely to polluting the Earth, so find other ways to get around. Bike, Scoot, Walk, take the bus or train…

BUILD A BIRDHOUSE

Share your garden with our feathered friends, and build them a birdhouse or feeder. You can buy kits to build your own, buy one you can decorate or even make one out of the contents of your recycling bin! We recently made a ‘Bird Hotel’ from an old milk jug, like these!

MAKE SOME SEED BOMBS

A fun and crafty activity that kids will love getting their hands dirty doing! To make your own seed bombs, mix one part seeds, five parts compost, and 3 parts clay powder or clay soil (I’ve also used cheap flour for this before) in a bowl. Add a few drops of water at a time as you mix the whole thing together. Shape it into balls, then lay them out in the sun to dry. They’ll be ready to plant within a couple of days! These make great gifts too!

ORGANISE A LITTER PICK

Why not organise a {socially distanced} litter pick in your local community? This is a great way of showing love to our Earth, whilst also teaching your children about the importance of not dropping litter. Make sure you have gloves and don’t allow littlies to pick up anything that may be sharp.

Do you celebrate Earth Day? I’d love to hear what you do!

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