Celebrate Earth Day
If you’re looking for a way to celebrate our planet and show your support for protecting our amazing environment, Earth Day is the perfect occasion!
Earth Day Quick Facts
- Earth Day is a day to show our support for the environment
- It happens on April 22 each year
- The first Earth Day was in 1970
- Earth day became a global initiative in 1990
- Every Earth Day has a theme (check out earthday.org to learn what the theme is this year!)
STEM and Earth Day Activities
This special day is full of opportunities for kids to explore STEM activities. After all, having science, technology, math and engineering all working together is the key to helping us tackle and solve some of the biggest challenges facing our planet, like:
- Protecting biodiversity
- Cleaning up (and avoiding!) environmental disasters
- Creating new sources and ways to use alternative energy, like wind and solar power
- Finding ways to feed, house and provide basic needs for all of humanity
- How to stop or even reverse climate change
- And more.
There are so many simple activities that you and your kids can do today, using low (or no) cost supplies that you likely already have in your house!
Here are a few of the activities we’d recommend, straight from the STEM Camp blog, organized by theme:
Go on an Earth Day Scavenger Hunt
There’s no better way to take notice of the world around us than to go on a scavenger hunt! Our STEM Camp Earth Day Scavenger Hunt has items on it that you can find around your house (great for those rainy days!) as well as a list of what to look for when you’re out on a walk in the spring sunshine, or out splashing in puddles, too!
No printer? No problem! Here's Your Earth Day Scavenger Hunt
Inside Your House
- A reusable product (e.g. water bottle)
- Something compostable (e.g. fruits, veggies, paper towel, etc).
- A product that can be recycled (e.g. cardboard, plastic, etc)
- An energy conserving product (e.g. LED light bulbs)
- Something organic (e.g. organic cotton on a clothing label, organic fruits and veggies, etc)
- Find something in your house that’s made to conserve energy (examples: LED light bulbs, low flow adjuster/shower, smart thermostats, etc).
Outside on a Walk
- An insect
- A leaf
- A wildflower
- A bird
- Something engineered (e.g. a bridge, a building, etc.)
- A water source
- A cloud
Activities to Learn About the Challenges of Pollution and Cleaning up the Earth
How Clean is Your Air?
In this activity we’ll learn about air pollution by doing a simple experiment using tape, paper, petroleum jelly (Vaseline), and a butter knife, to see what little objects are floating through the air.
How Can You Clean the Ocean?
Ocean pollution creates big problems for life in the water and beyond. We’ll explore how you can clean up the ocean, using water, small pieces of ‘pollution’ (e.g. pieces of paper, beads etc), and materials (e.g. popsicle sticks, string, pipe cleaners) to build a device to clean the ocean too.
Oil Spill Clean Up
Oil spills are a devastating human-caused form of pollution that can be very tricky to clean up. Try this experiment using water, oil, and various items that you’d like to test out to clean up the spill (e.g. cotton balls, sponges, towels, etc). Have fun testing different materials to see which works the best!
Experiments that Showcase the Magic of Earth’s Natural Phenomena
Build a Volcano on the Beach
This activity adds a fun outdoor twist on the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano experiment! All you need is a sandbox or sandy beach and a few household materials.
Make a Cloud in a Jar
Have you ever wondered about how these fluffy looking masses are formed? In this activity we’ll use a jar, hot water, food colouring, ice, and hairspray to make our own cloud in a jar to learn about how clouds are formed in the sky.
Make a Thunderstorm
Thunderstorms are dramatic, fascinating and beautiful weather events! In this activity, we’ll use water, ice cubes, food colouring and lukewarm water to simulate the conditions that create thunderstorms, to learn a bit about how they happen in nature.
Other Activities to Do Together
- Plant a native plant species
- Plant a container garden
- Turn off your lights to conserve electricity
- Go screen free for a day (if you can!)
- Pick an area in your neighbourhood or community to clean up. Gear up with proper gloves and safety equipment, and beautify an area of your community by bagging up litter.
- Record the temperature outside today. Ask your parent or caregiver to look up the average temperature of this day throughout history. What do you notice?
How Do You Celebrate Earth Day?
We’d love to know! Comment below to inspire other families and kids with ideas on how to celebrate this special day, or tag us on social (@stem_camp) in your awesome experiment!
