Are you looking for some easy crafts and activities for your kids? I have five simple and fun activities to share with you for Earth Day. Most of these require little preparation ahead of time – SCORE!
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It’s a challenge to keep kids attention for more than five seconds unless you’re a YouTube kid opening toys, but these activities combined with the outdoors keep my toddler’s attention, and the whole family can join the fun. You can use these ideas over and over again, but I wanted to share them with Earth Day specifically in mind.
Videos (coming soon) are one of my favorite ways to share content. Below is the video of us planting the beans, creating our nature portraits, and building our fairy garden. I hope this helps you with some ideas to do with your family outdoors.
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1. Painted Rocks
What could be simpler than a painted rock? Nothing that I can think of, but this craft is so much fun, and your kids will love it. Hide the rocks around your neighborhood, or keep them in your garden. I have seen rocks painted by kids and adults. Some rocks are the most amazing art! Join the kids during this craft time and have fun decorating rocks together.
At the Birthday party for my grandmother at the beginning of March, we did a painting class for the adults on canvas, and I bought a rock painting kit for the kids. The kit came with paint, rocks, and decorations making this activity easy to prepare. The paint is permanent to sustain outdoor conditions, so prepare for stains.
2. Flower Garden
Gardening may be the fastest-growing (punny) hobby right now. So many families are planting and growing vegetables and flowers, maybe you are too. I am excited for you! Growing plants is one of my favorite things to do outdoors, and I have grown up having a garden my whole life. This activity is sustainable over a long period as well.
Elia got lots of gardening supplies for her birthday, including this flower growing kit. She loves watering her flowers, and we are getting to watch them grow. She checks them daily, and of course, wants to water them a lot. We have to hold her back from the water.
The flower growing kit comes with everything you need, including the dirt and seeds. The soil comes in discs, and you add water to fill your container. This activity requires little preparation since everything, including the paint and brushes, is included.
3. Watch Beans Grow
No exciting pictures of this activity yet, but I will update photos as the beans start to grow. Your kids can decorate the bags, add some drawings or paintings of plants, then watch the beans grow. Soil isn’t required either. Put a moist paper towel in the bottom instead if you don’t have soil.
Add your soil or paper towel to the bottom of the bag, add the beans, then spray water in the bag until everything is moist. Tape the bag to a sunny window and wait. In 3-4 days, you should start seeing sprouts. Once the plant is a few inches tall, you can plant it in the ground or a large pot for a little veggie garden. Imagine how proud your kids will be for growing their vegetables.
4. Nature Portrait
Our family nature portraits were so much fun to make. I get a giggle out of them every time I look at them. Elia was super proud of them too. We gathered the materials together from our yard, then sat outside and glued our portraits on paper. Minimal supplies required and free supplies from outdoors.
They’re all so cute! Matt decided to add a tie to his stick, man. It makes me laugh every time. Hilarious. Get the whole family involved in this craft and see what everyone creates. Don’t forget to take pictures. As your leaves and flowers start to dry out, the art won’t last forever.
5. Fairy Garden
I found a book at the Library in February about a Fairy House, so I have been waiting for the right time to make one along with reading the book. I thought this would be an excellent activity for Earth Day. You can create one with minimal supplies. I did purchase the fairy, walkway, and small tools at a dollar store for $3. Elia loves playing in the dirt with tiny tools. The rest of the item we had around the house or found in nature.
Here’s a quick supply list since this craft requires a little more preparation, or buy a Fairy Garden Kit.
- container for soil (we used a plastic pot liner we had on hand)
- soil/dirt
- fairy house (we made ours from sticks and leaves)
- hot glue gun
- fairy accessories
- natural elements (we used mushrooms, seashells, and flowers from our home)
You can customize your fairy house with other things from around your home too. Elia has a couple of the little wood boxes, so we used one to hold the fairy tools. The cross was a leftover craft from Easter. Below is a picture of the book we read, Pinkalicious Fairy House.
This tiny fairy has an adorable home. Making this together as a family was so special, and Elia said it was her favorite thing we did that day.
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Which activity do you plan on doing? They are all a lot of fun for all ages, including parents.
We enjoyed spending time together as a family gathering all of our natural materials from around our yard. To incorporate faith, I thought about singing He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. Elia is doing great learning songs now, and this one is on my list to teach her.
If you’re looking for even more craft ideas for Earth Day, I have an entire Pinterest board filled with ideas. There are several of these crafts we will be doing through the summer. Playing outside is her favorite thing.