Mamas, with earth day approaching, this is the perfect opportunity to celebrate Mother Earth and teach our children about the environment. After all, over one billion people celebrate Earth Day!

In celebration, I wanted to share a few earth inspired activities to do with your children. These activities focus on elements of our planet, as well as sustainable aspects to help our planet thrive. These activities are great for the busy mom since they are quick, easy, and are done mostly with items found around your home.

Before I dive into the toddler activities, let’s chat about Earth Day and why it’s extremely important to talk about.

Earth Day became recognized by the entire world in 1990 and it is an annual event celebrated on April 22nd each year. On this day, we celebrate earth and are grateful for all the natural resources it has to offer.

As mothers, we want to encourage future generations to participate in the discussion of Clean Air, Clean Water, Endangered Species, reducing C02 emissions, recycling, sustainability, and so much more! Let’s make sure our planet is around for many years to come.

While we participate in the discussion over some activities, remember, Earth Day is a day to make a difference. Perhaps plant a tree, ride your bike to work, unplug from electronics, pick up garbage in the area, whatever you decide to do lets show our children the importance of Earth Day.

Activities!

1) Upcycle welo boxes:

Not only do you get a delicious snack for your kids when you purchase Welo Bars, you can upcycle their boxes as they transform into easy toddler activities. Upcycling is the process of creatively reusing products, which would have been waste, and repurposing them into something with greater quality.

Inside Welo’s boxes you can find a variety of craft ideas. Colouring fun characters, building race cars, constructing rocket ships, and fun games are just a few activities found inside the boxes. The boxes themselves can be used in so many ways. My kids once made a full village of homes with their Welo Boxes.

What else can you upcycle? Think about toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes, crinkle paper from packaging, reusing jars, yogurt containers, or even egg cartons!

2) Rain clouds in jar

I cannot think of a better time to learn about our weather system than on Earth Day! Rain clouds in a jar is a classic science experiment, great for children off all ages. The idea is to demonstrate how rain moves through the clouds and how rain is formed. Rain is essential for our planet and has so many benefits. It provides us water to drink and help farmers grow crops for us to eat. You can find full details on this activity HERE!

3) Reuse Toilet paper rolls

Another idea of upcycling is to reuse your toilet paper rolls and turn them into a fun craft! Perhaps taping them to the wall to create drop shoots for kids, or cut and bend the rolls into little hearts for a sensory activity as pictured. There are so many ideas but upcycling those rolls and giving them another purpose is a wonderful way to help the environment.

4) Dinosaur Hunt:

You can do this with so many items. Have a variety of containers around and bury a bunch of the dinosaurs and have a treasure hunt! Your toddler will love finding what’s barried beneath the rice.It is also a great way to have a conversation with your children about endangered species, so they don’t become extinct like the dinosaurs are!

5) Moon Sand- Beach activity

Our earth is made up of so many things. There is water, grass, clay, and sand! Moon sand is a fun activity for children and can easily be incorporated with learning about space! Talk about the different planets and why our earth is so great. Full instructions on making moon sand can be found HERE.

6) Neighbourhood Clean up & Sorting trash

Getting outside is important on earth day so kids can enjoy earth and everything it has to offer. While outside, go on a neighbourhood walk picking up a few pieces of garbage. This simple gesture can make a big impact!

When home, sorting the trash and placing items in recycling can also go a long way. Teach kids which items go into which bin and make it fun! I know you remember learning Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle as a child, so now is the time to pass on your knowledge.

7) Read a book

Better yet, read a book with an environmental theme! Not only is unplugging from electronics helping reduce our carbon footprint, reading books about the plant is a great learning activity for children.

I hope these activities encourage you to participate in Earth Day with your families. Lets do our part to ensure earth is around to be celebrated by our kids kids and many future generations to come. Remember, children are never to young to start talking about the planet and the impact they can make.

If you try any of here activities, TAG me on Instagram, @unstoppable.mama

I would love to see.