7 Springtime Crafts to Celebrate Earth Day With the Family
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, billions of individuals worldwide have participated in events every April 22 to protest ecological degradation and promote environmental stewardship and awareness.
The earth is warming rapidly, with the global temperature rising 0.14°F every decade since 1880 and 0.32°F per decade since 1981. With increasing surface temperatures come greater extreme weather events and devastating ecological changes.
Environmental education is a powerful tool for positively impacting the planet. Teaching younger generations about protecting the earth is essential for creating a healthier planet. As the world comes together to observe Earth Day 2022, here are seven craft projects to celebrate with the family.
1. DIY Bird Feeder
Turn your yard into a bird observatory with a DIY bird feeder. Using clean paint cans, a wooden dowel, and birdseed, your family can create colorful feeders to attract various backyard species.
Roll or brush acrylic paint onto the cans, allowing your kids to make interesting patterns, pictures, or other designs to their liking. Cut the wooden dowels into four pieces, hot gluing one to each opening of the cans as a perch for birds to sit on.
Finally, tie a ribbon around the can, add a few drops of hot glue to hold it in place, and tie them onto a tree branch. Then, add some seeds and wait for the birds to arrive.
2. Earth Day Cookies With Recyclable Packaging
An excellent way for your family to raise environmental awareness is by baking Earth Day cookies and handing them out to neighbors, friends, and family.
You’ll need a box of sugar cookie mix and blue and green food coloring. Note: You can make your own natural food dyes from ingredients around your kitchen. Mix your cookie dough according to the package directions, separate it into two bowls, and add a few drops of blue and green – one color per bowl.
Pull pieces of dough from each color and shape them into a 1” ball. Place your dough ball onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and pop the tray into the oven for 8-9 minutes at 375° F.
Deliver the cookies in recyclable or compostable packaging, such as a brown paper bag or a cardboard cookie box. Your kids can also create fun gift tags with special Earth Day messages to encourage others to save the planet.
3. Nature Scavenger Hunt
Even very young children will love a backyard nature scavenger hunt. Find a printable photo board or nature checklist for this game or create one yourself.
Your older children will have a great time taking their younger siblings around to match plants and rocks to the photos.
For older, school-aged children, a checklist may include the actual name of an object or describe a specific color, texture, or shape. You might also add insects or birds to the list to make things more exciting. This could be a fun way to see what your kids come up with on their own.
Your kids can check the items off their list or collect them to show you afterward.
4. Quilled Planet Picture
Kids as young as 7 or 8 years old will love creating a bright quilled planet picture for Earth Day this year. For this fun craft project, you’ll need the following:
- Cardstock in black, light and dark blue, green, and red
- Scissors
- Glue
- White acrylic paint
- Old toothbrush
On black paper, use a toothbrush to splatter white paint by brushing the bristles with your finger, making a starry night effect. Trace a circular lid for the earth and glue a strip of dark-blue paper around the circle.
Coil your blue and green strips, dip into the glue, and place them in your circle to create a planet design. You may also want to create a red heart cutout to paste onto your quill picture.
If you have a star-shaped hole punch, feel free to add stars using white paper scraps.
5. DIY Mason Jar Planter
Gardening takes a bit of practice, but what better way to learn these skills than with a DIY mason jar planter? Your family will enjoy upcycling a mason jar to plant succulents or watch flowers grow from scratch.
Have your kids decoupage their mason jars with vibrant tissue paper or glue pretty stones and pebbles into a heart shape. You might also help your kids create an etched glass design of different botanicals if you have the equipment.
Decide what you would like to grow in your mason jars, fill them with soil, and plant your seeds. Some ideas include herbs like basil, thyme, lavender, or mint. Your kids may also want to try growing ferns, oxalis, or aloe vera.
6. Earth Day Word Search
Are you searching for a fun craft project to do with older children? An Earth Day-themed word search may be the perfect activity. Incorporating words like “pollution”, “ozone” and “compost” is a great way to start a conversation about environmental issues and the importance of a healthy planet.
Either print an Earth Day word search online or encourage your kids to create their own with an Earth Day theme that’s important to them. Maybe they care about the ocean and want to include words related to plastic pollution and marine animals. If they like reading about climate change, including words about global warming and sea-level rise is another option.
Have your kids swap their word searches with you and their siblings. As you complete each game, discuss why these environmental issues are important and develop ways everyone can do their part to improve them, such as using reusable bags at the grocery store or drinking from reusable water bottles.
7. Grassy Paper Crown
Toddlers can get in on the Earth Day fun with a grassy paper crown fit for an earth queen or king. This project is a great way to reuse those paper grocery bags you have piling up.
Cut the bags into 4-5” strips and color the blank sides with different green crayons to resemble grass. Fit the crown to your child’s head for the appropriate size. Then, glue it together again with a glue stick.
You’ll probably want to help your little one create cut fringed ends in glass-like stalks. Have them make the final touches with colorful flower stickers.
Earth Day Crafts for Everyone to Celebrate
These seven springtime crafts are excellent activities for the whole family to bond over this Earth Day. Use these art projects to communicate with your kids about taking care of the environment for all future generations to enjoy. You may even learn something new from them, too!
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