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The theme for Earth Day 2021 is “Together, We Can Restore Our Earth.” It is a theme that encourages all of us to celebrate Earth Day with our children. While Earth Day is celebrated on Thursday, April 22, there are many ways to continue the Earth Day celebration all spring season. We have put together a list of wonderful activities to enjoy with your preschoolers.

Creating and recycling!

Many of our students at CLC have been recycling and creating both at home and in the classroom this month. Materials:

  • Recycled items including plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, etc.
  • Tape and glue
  • Paint

Instructions:

  1. Gather and clean recycled items.
  2. Read a story and talk about recycling with your child.
  3. Set up glue and tape for your child to glue or tape the items together.

Questions to ask: Talk to your child about what they wanted to make. They can use the materials to make a car, a castle… the possibilities are endless!

Plant bean seeds to put in a garden 

Materials:  

  • Cups or plant containers with children’s name on them which also helps them recognize their name when they are looking for their cup for planting
  • Dirt in large bin
  • Seeds (bean seeds work well)
  • Spoons and small shovels
  • Watering can

Instructions:

  1.  Discuss planting with your child through books, pictures, videos and even have them act out being a plant.
  2. Set up an area for planting with all of your materials. Also make sure that you have an area prepared by a window for plants to grow.
  3. Ask your child to find their cup and then ask them to count out how many seeds you want them to put in their cup or let them choose how many.
  4. Have your children fill their cups by spooning the dirt from the bin.
  5. Assist the children with the water can to water their seeds.

Questions to ask: Ask your child to predict how long it will take the plant to grow and chart the children’s answers. Observe cups each day to see if they are growing and chart with children the changes. Let the children water their own plant with assistance. Children will transplant their plants to the outside garden once they begin to grow.

Bean in a bag experiment

Materials:  

  • Paper towel
  • Water
  • Plastic bag that will reseal, any size
  • One dry bean seed (pinto, butter or kidney beans from the kitchen pantry)
  • Tape

Instructions:

  1. Fold a paper towel in half. Then fold it in half again.
  2. Wet the paper towel with water. The towel should be very damp, not wet. Put the paper towel in the plastic bag.
  3. Put one bean seed into the bag. Make sure the seed touches the paper towel.
  4. Squeeze as much air as you can from the plastic bag. Then seal it. Make sure the bean is in the middle of the paper towel.
  5. Tape the bag to a sunny window.
  6. Check the seed every day. The seed should start to grow in about five days. Roots and leaves will grow in the next few days.
  7. When the roots are long, plant the bean in a pot or outside in the ground. Visit the bean plant often to check its growth!

Questions to ask: Explain to your child that the seeds contain a little bit of food for growing the plant. The food in the seed gets used up. Then the plant needs to get its food from the soil to grow big and strong. Tell your child the names of the parts of the plants (root, stem, leaves). Show your child each part of the plant. Ask your child to name things that grow from seeds (grass, vegetables, flowers, beans).

Flower arranging

A flower arranging activity allows children to develop skills using their hands while also allowing them to explore nature! Materials:

  • Ball of floral foam cut in half and sized to fit inside a strainer
  • Plastic strainer or colander with large holes
  • Flowers (real or fake)

Instructions:

  1. Put the flat side of the foam ball on the table.
  2. Turn the strainer over so it covers the foam.
  3. Poke a flower’s stem into one of he strainer’s holes. Push hard so the stem goes into the foam. The foam will hold the flower in place.
  4. Continue adding flowers until you like the arrangement. Flowers can be moved from hole to hole to change the look of the display.
  5. If you’d like, place the foam in a bowl of water to keep live flowers fresh.

Questions to ask: Ask children to explain their choice of flowers. What do they like about each flower’s shape or color? If you use real flowers, encourage children to smell them. Ask the children to describe the scent. Ask children to look at the flowers’ leaves and petals. Look at different flowers. Compare. What things are alike? What things are different? For more fun activities like these, order CLC’s Play to Learn Book. Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County (CLC) is committed to providing early childhood education for all families, with direct services and programs focused in health, nutrition & family support for children aged 6 weeks – 5 years of age. Find more information about enrollment, here!