Earth Day Celebrations in the Classroom

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It’s almost April, so it’s time for some Earth Day celebrations in the classroom. Earth day is on April 22nd, but can be celebrated all month. Today’s blog post I am going to share some of my favorite Part day resources, sensory activities and picture books!

If you are looking for general tips about holidays in the classroom, check out an old post HERE.  For other April ideas visit my April category on my blog!   For other seasonal activities, consider April Binder Tasks, April Directed Drawing, or April Vocabulary Activities.

* This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click and end up purchasing, you pay no extra cost, but I earn a small fee for referring you.

What Is Earth Day?

I love using Earth Day to teach our students about our world. This social story helps introduce the holiday and teach the meaning of the holiday to students. You can easily print and read this to your students or save on ink and project it on your smart board. You can crab this social store here.

How To Manage Behaviors On Earth Day

When I was in the classroom, we ALWAYS went on a nature hunt to kick off Earth Day. This wasn’t because the holiday is about nature, but because it helped kiddos remember why they love our planet. Special activities like this always brought out some unexpected behaviors. As educators we forget that special activities can present challenging behaviors. Below are some of the expected challenge behaviors we may see during Earth Day celebrations in the classroom.

  • School Celebrations: This lesson is kind of a given if your school celebrates holidays. If you are having a celebration or performance the routine is going to be different. Review expectations before the celebrations begin!
  • How to Act in the Community: This lesson is OH so important for families or classrooms that plan a community outing such as a beach/street clean up or earth day celebration.
  • I Will not Throw things:   This lesson is important to remember if you are planning any nature walks or community clean ups this month.  Rocks, leaves, sticks and dirt can be SO fun yet so dangerous.  Remind students to not throw anything they may find during earth day celebrations! 
  • Changes in School:    Like all holiday celebrations, many routines change.  It is important to review with students ahead of time the important of flexible thinking and tolerating the changes in schedule due to the celebration!

Earth Day Picture Books

I love these picture books to spruce up your earth day celebrations in the classroom!

Communication on Earth Day

I have an earth day communication board for you to make your earth day celebrations more meaningful for all of your students! It’s important to make sure all kiddos can participate in your earth day discussions and activities.

Earth Day Videos and Songs

I love implementing videos to help kiddos generalize holiday vocabulary words and themes. Below are three great songs for Earth Day celebrations in your classroom!

Earth Day Goodies

I linked some of my favorite Earth day goodies that can be used for games, activities and crafts in honor of Earth day.

Earth Day Crafts and Sensory Activities

Below are some fun ideas for the holiday that I wanted to share with you! Click on each image to be taken to the original author for more information!

This earth day slime is EVERYTHING from Preschool Inspirations!

I also love this shaving cream earth craft from The Simple Parent

Holidays can be a blast in the classroom if planned out ahead of time. I know this blog post is full of all sorts of goodies, and I completely understand if you can’t incorporate all of these ideas every year. I do hope you found some of these tips and tricks helpful for this holiday season. If you plan on discussing more holidays this year, check out my Holiday social stories discounted bundle!

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