Free Earth Day Preschool Lesson Plans
It’s time to celebrate the Earth! We’ve loaded this post with free Earth Day preschool lesson plans which includes literacy and book ideas, art and sensory exploration, plus social-emotional learning, and even math and science fun. You’ll find the whole bundle of Earth day theme ideas at the end of this post in a FREE download of preschool lesson plans.
Free Earth Day Activities for Preschool Including Free Preschool Lesson Plans
Although we celebrate Earth day on April 22, every day is Earth day! When young children learn about the importance of caring for Earth by not littering, caring for nature and simple ways to help our planet, they make deep connections to nature.
Preschoolers love being outside and exploring the world around them so the idea that Earth needs our help can be a strong emotion that we can instill from a young age.
So grab these free Earth day activities for preschoolers!
FAQ About Teaching an Earth Day Theme
Head outdoors! Read a book about the wonder of Earth under a big tree or in a beautiful natural spot. Plant a seed and head to a farmer’s market and discuss the beauty and wonder we see every day on this big planet.
Preschoolers can learn to recycle and reduce and reuse! Learning about ways to help and encouraging children to participate in simple and helpful activities like picking up trash or planting wildflowers reinforces keeping Earth beautiful.
Earth Day is a great tie in to other spring time themes like rain and weather, rainbows, flowers, Easter, recycling, and even learning about Earth’s place in space.
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Important Info about these Earth Day Lesson Plans
The Learn at Home Preschool Lesson Plans are free lesson plans you can use to teach your preschooler at home.
All the preschool learning activities are quick and easy to set up, designed to save time, requiring hardly any (if any at all) prep and only requires the most basic of household materials. This makes them especially easy for parents to implement…and this makes preschool teachers especially happy, too!
Just glance over the lessons each day, gather the very few materials needed, and you’re ready to go!
But don’t be fooled by the name “at home” preschool lesson plans! These activities work wonderfully in the classroom as well, and if you’re a preschool teacher who is remotely teaching you can send these lesson plans to your student’s parents.
Earth Day Literacy Activities for Preschoolers
Cloud Writing – Use shaving cream on a baking tray and practice writing the alphabet “in the clouds”. Start by writing the alphabet in large letters on a sheet of paper. Set aside. Now, squirt some shaving cream on a baking tray and spread it out with a spatula. Invite your preschooler to practice writing letters and numbers in the shaving cream with their finger or with a q-tip. See this post from Happy Hooligans for more details.
Building Stick Letters – Collect a number of sticks from around the yard and neighborhood ranging in length from 6-12 inches. Some should be straight and some should be curved. At home, place them on the back patio and use them to make letters on a large scale. Since your preschooler collected both curved and straight sticks, she can have fun making both curved and straight letters. For added fun, have your preschooler use the sticks to spell her name.
Don’t Forget the Earth Day Picture Books!
These Earth day picture books are a great way to teach preschoolers about their role in caring for the Earth with bright illustrations and simple storylines that we can all connect with. Click each book cover below to learn more!
Earth Day Math & Science Activities for Preschoolers
Green and Blue Sort – Gather a large number of items from around the house that are either blue or green. Invite your preschooler to sort them according to color. Explain that our Earth is made of blue water and green land and that it is important to care for our Earth so that it can stay clean and we can be healthy.
Practice Recycling– Recycling is an important part of taking care of the Earth. Have your preschooler help sort items that can be recycled. Try two types at first: cardboard and plastic. Then add in metal. If you have a young preschooler, keep it extra simple by sorting just two items instead of two types of recyclables. For example, you might start with plastic bottles and soda cans.
Playful Learning Activities for Earth Day
Earth Playdough Invitation to Play– Make playdough in two colors: blue for the ocean and green for the land. Add some toy animals and even some items from nature like rocks, sticks, and leaves, and play.
Earth Balloon Painting– Blow up a balloon to about the size of a grapefruit. Dip the balloon in some green and blue paint and then use it to make Earth prints on a piece of paper. See more details in this post from I Heart Arts and Crafts.
Easy Earth Map – Have your preschooler arrange blue and green blankets, pillows, and t-shirts to look like the Earth by laying out green items for the land and blue items for the water. Then, play pretend.
Earth Day Themed Indoor Activities for Preschoolers to Keep Them Active
Cardboard Tunnels – Reuse cardboard food and packing boxes and make them into car tunnels for pretend play. Cut an arch on each side of the box and have your preschooler paint it. Then, add it to a set of cards to make a tunnel. This idea from Color Me Happy is a perfect example.
Trashy Art – Save those little bits of trash and challenge your preschooler to use them to create a work of art. Try a collage made of just one or two colors of trash. Try this idea from Craftulate.
Caring Earth Scavenger Hunt – Make a list of ways your preschooler can help care for the Earth and have her go on a scavenger hunt around the house with you. Items on the list might include: turning off lights, reusing a plastic container, color on both sides of a paper, repurposing something that is worn out, fixing something that is broken, etc.
Fun Preschool Activities for Earth Day
Milk Carton Bird Feeders – Repurpose milk jugs by making them into bird feeders. Just cut a hole on one side, paint the milk carton, and fill it with birdseed. Your preschooler will love watching the birds come to the house to feed. Get some ideas here.
Paper Cutting – Don’t throw away that scrap paper! Give it to your preschooler to practice scissor cutting. Help your preschooler cut safely: thumb up, elbow in, scissors pointing away from the body. The cut scraps of paper can be made into an earth day craft or collage by gluing them to a piece of construction paper.
Water Bottle Bowling – Save those old water bottles and fill them back up. Then use them to create your own bowling game. Start at a distance of five feet and have your preschooler roll a ball to knock down the bottles.
Safe Online Earth Day Activities for Preschoolers
Online Story – Go to Storylineonline.net and listen to the book The Garbage Barge and read by Justin Theroux. Look for a red button under the video called “Activity Guides” to find related activities that pair with the book.
Trash Art Video – Show your preschooler how garbage can be used to create works of art in this YouTube video. Challenge your preschooler to find things in the house that they can use again.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Song – This is a fun song about taking care of our Earth. The graphics are very kids friendly and the tune is catchy.
Make Your Earth Day Theme Even Better!
Sometimes, including fun themed toys and activity kits makes your theme engaging and interesting to your preschoolers! We have hand-picked some fun Earth day toys and learning aids that we think make for great Earth day learning! Click on the pictures below for more info about each one.
Get Your Earth Day Preschool Lesson Plans Here
Think these Earth Day lesson plans for preschool are something your students’ parents might enjoy? Or a good fit for your classroom?
Just click the image below to have the pdf sent to your email.
Looking for More Earth Day Activities?
Do you have a budding environmentalist? This Earth Day Activity Pack is for your little one. Packed full of uniquely hands-on, printable Earth Day themed themed activities, preschoolers love celebrating their favorite hug-a-tree holiday with these Earth Day activities.
This pack contains six fun and educational Earth Day activities appropriate for preschool through kindergarten. Three activities are math based, three are literacy based. All are fun.
>>> Earth Day Activity Pack for Preschoolers <<<
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
