The theme for this year’s Earth Day is “climate action”, which highlights the importance of being proactive and taking concrete steps in our daily lives to stop climate change.
Here are some simple ways you can commemorate Earth Day with your students even while distance learning.
Recycling, upcycling and reusing
Being indoors = a lot more time to get crafty! Challenge your students to come up with creative ways of repurposing empty, old items around the house, such as:
- Empty pasta sauce jars
- Empty toilet rolls
- Milk jugs
- Old magazines
- Rugs
- Old t-shirts
Or, if you’re in need of some inspiration, Pinterest is filled with TONS of great ideas on creative ways to repurpose and upcycle at-home items. Why not try these bangles made from old T-shirts, or recycled bottle planters?
Quiz your way to knowledge
Quizzes are a fun way for students to learn more about climate change and sustainability, and are also a good starter activity to lead into discussions about the environment. Check out our sustainability quizzes for elementary/middle school and high school here:
Pledge to go without meat or single-use plastic for a day
Why not challenge your students to reduce their carbon footprint by going without meat or single-use plastic for a day? Doing it together as a class will strengthen students’ resolve to stick to their pledge. This will also make kids more mindful of how their daily actions and habits impact the earth, and might inspire them to take concrete steps towards living a more consistently sustainable lifestyle.
Documentaries
Documentaries don’t have to be dull and dreary things that put us to sleep. There are a plethora of documentaries on the environment that even kids can enjoy and learn from:
- Arctic Tale
- March of the Penguins
- Born to be Wild
- Wonders of the Sea
- Blue Planet
Planting
Trees are a crucial part of our ecosystem. While a tree planting field trip might not be possible right now, we can start small in the home. With a bit of cotton wool, water, a jar and beans you can find at the supermarket, students can grow their own plant, like in the video above! Growing a plant and taking care of it is also an effective way to teach students patience, responsibility and discipline.
Calculate your carbon footprint
Do you know what your carbon footprint is? There are a number of online carbon footprint calculators you can use with your students to determine your impact your actions and decisions have on the environment. This is a good starting point to launch into a discussion on how we can take steps to reduce our carbon footprint in our everyday lives.
Set sustainable goals for the class
Our efforts to do better for the planet shouldn’t be limited to just Earth Day, but it’s nevertheless a good day to create a list of practical goals for the class to be more sustainable. With a list of practical goals they can reach, students are more likely to put effort into being more environmentally friendly. Some easy ideas include:
- Using reusable water bottles
- Taking shorter showers
- Conserving energy by switching off the lights when they’re not in use
- Reducing paper use and waste
There are many ways we can commemorate Earth Day 2020 even though we’re not in the classroom. Are you going to try any of these out? Let us know in the comments below!
Header image by Windawake from Pngtree.com.
