1-2-3 Come Lend A Hand With Some Earth Day "Craftivities"

After studying the importance of taking care of our earth and discussing the fact that even little children can make a difference, I’d give a few directions, and tell my Y5’s that they were going to be part of Mrs. Henderson’s Kids Care Cleanup Crew.

Each child got a pair of non latex gloves (You can buy a pack of 50 at The Dollar Store.) and armed with their own plastic grocery sack to put litter in, we’d hit the playground when no one was using it.  

Because their hands are so little, I also bought a pack of elastic ponytail holders and slipped those around their wrists to hold the gloves on.

It’s amazing how much garbage gets caught up against the fence!  My kiddos absolutely LOVED running around picking up all sorts of debris.  We’d then head to the dumpster and toss our sacks and gloves in.  

They were always very proud of themselves.  I made sure that the principal knew what we were doing and he always thanked our class over the P.A. during the announcements the next day.  

Afterwards, we’d wash our hands really well and then settled down to watch a short and educational Earth Day video.  One of my favorites is an awesome 6-minute clip of the paper recycling process at the Staten Island Paper Mill.

For more interesting Earth Day YouTube videos, click on the link to this Pinterest board:  "Favorite Earth Day Videos on YouTube" .

 The “craftivity" that day was “I can lend a hand.”  Children chose a partner and took turns tracing each other's hand.  

They then cut out their print and glued it to a variety of colors of construction paper.  For young children, you could have a room helper do this for you the day before.

Even the boys enjoyed decorating their hand posters with "tatoos" and jewelry. To add a bit more pizzazz,  have students paste on some flat-backed jewels using glue dots.

Older students can complete the "Pitch in" writing prompt and glue that to the back of their poster. Punch a hole in the top and suspend from the ceiling.

My students enjoyed discussing the many different ways little kids can 'pitch in" to make a big difference. 

At the end of the day have students color their certificate.  These always prompted parents to ask their child about the cleanup activity. 

Click on the link to view/download the Lend A Hand Earth Day activity. 

While working on the above, I also designed another Earth Day craftivity that  I call the "Helping Hands Dangler".  Like the above poster, students can choose a partner to help them trace their hand, or they can do it themselves. 

There are several options for "dangling" these mobiles from the ceiling. 

I've taken a photo of both samples to help explain this. 

Students can glue all 4 circles together in such a way that they make a 3D sphere (like the earth) or they can glue the circles vertically to a length of yarn.

Both writing prompt options, dangle from the child's hand.

For the latter option, give students 3 of the "I can help" writing prompt circles.  They write 3 ways they can lend a helping hand and then glue them back-to-back on to the other circles.  Punch a hole at the top and suspend from the ceiling.

Click on the link to view/download the Helping Hands Dangler. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. To see more Earth Day activities, scroll down to check out the other blog articles.

"We are living in a world where lemonade is made from artificial flavors, and furniture polish is made from real lemons." -Alfred E. Newman

1-2-3 Come Celebrate Earth Day With Me!

My Y5's enjoyed learning how to care for our planet more than on just Earth Day.  I took an entire week to teach them how even little kids could make a difference by simply turning the water off while they brushed their teeth, as well as not being a litter bug. 

We were always amazed at how much small trash we cleaned up from our playground and fenced in areas, as we went outdoors for "Operation Clean Up!"

We had wonderful discussions of other things we could do and what they as a family were already doing.

A creative way to have students write about how they reduce, reuse or recycle, helping to take care of, and love our earth, is by making the "I Love The Earth" personal writing prompt "craftivity."

Students cut and colored their planet earth and glued it to a heart, where they wrote what they did to help out.

I traced my students' hands and they drew a self portrait to make this a real cute keepsake, as well as an awesome hallway display.

Click on the link to view/download We Love The Earth craftivity.

You can use the Happy Earth Day poster as a center for your spring bulletin board, and then scatter the portraits around it. 

The cans on the poster have letters that say: We Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Make a copy of your students' school pictures and have them glue it to the lid.

Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day poster.

"My Family Recycles!" Is a quick and easy writing prompt bookmark. Students color their recycling tub and symbol and jot down all of the things their family does to recycle.

Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day bookmark.

Finally, an interesting way to have students examine the importance of recycling, and see what they can do, is to take a look at what their family throws out.

This packet includes a letter to parents, recording data analysis sheet + graphing extensions and a writing prompt craftivity, to pull it all together.

Click on the link to view/download What's In Your Garbage? Earth Day activities.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

I hope you and yours enjoy being keen and "going green!"

"Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint you can on it." -Danny Kaye

1-2-3 Come Reduce, Reuse and Recycle With Me!

April 22nd is fast approaching.  Do you need a little something to plug in for Earth Day?

I've been busy designing some quick and easy writing prompts, craftivities, and a game, that I think you'll enjoy.

Making a class book is a fun way to get your kiddo's excited about writing. Each child completes their page; you collect and collate them.

Students complete the thought for each of the 3 sentences. How do they reduce, reuse andrecyle to help our earth?

Remind them about capitalization, spacing and punctuation, so that you cover those standards as well.

When you share the completed book with your class, have each child read their own page.

Add some pizzazz by having students color the illustrations and then glue their own school photo over either the girl or boy's face.  Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Class Book.

Another way you can have students write about reducing, reusing and recycling, is to have them make this simple, but striking Earth Day dangler.

The recycling symbols and hearts are glued together to form 3 sides; one for each R word. Students write how they reduce on one heart, how they reuse on another and finally how they recycle on the 3rd one.

Hang from a yarn loop so the writing prompt "craftivity" twirls and dangles from the ceiling.

Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Writing Prompt Dangler.

Finally, I made an Earth Day game that helps review clock numbers, simple addition, and things that can be recycled.

Students roll first one, and then two dice, to get a time-to-the-hour number that they write on their clock. 

They then glue the matching numbered item that it is "time to reduce, reuse or recycle."

Click on the link to view/download Earth Day: It's Time To Recycle Clock Game.

For more Earth Day "craftivities" scroll down to the next article.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think may be helpful to others.

"It is not the IQ, but the I Will, that is most impoortant in education." -Unknown