Preschool Earth Day and Recycling Theme

Below you can find tons of fun and engaging Earth Day & Recycling Activities! Pick and choose the activities for your lesson or download a free copy of our Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Lesson Plan to save you time!

Click on a button below to view a section-use the yellow arrow to return to the top!

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Planning your Earth Day and Recycling Theme

Club Members can download all of our Earth Day and Recycling Activities and Earth & Recycling Theme Planning Guide for free! Not a member? Learn More Here

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Download our Free Earth Day and Recycling Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

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Painting with Recyclables

Set out some paint and recyclables for children to create anything they like. This is a great time to explore how different tools can create unique designs! 
Another fun creativity idea is to invite your preschooler to create 3D art using recyclables. 

DIY Watercolors

Save those dried up markers to reuse! 
Sheena W. of Building Blocks Family Child Care contributed this photo. She placed dried up markers in a plastic bottle then filled with water. She paired them with droppers for her preschoolers to use for painting. 

*Make Your Own Crayons

Make your own crayons by recycling old broken crayons!
Find all the instructions on our Make Your Own Crayons Blog post

Try this!

*Coffee Filter Earth

Mix blue water color paint and green water color paint in small jars of water. Lay out coffee filters on trays for easy clean up. Invite children to use pipettes to suck up blue and green and drop the color on their coffee filter to create Earth!

Decorate a Reusable Shopping Bag

Create a unique reusable shopping bag.
You will need:
-Canvas shopping bags
-Assorted color markers or paint pens
-Cardboard pieces, cut to fit into each bag to keep the markers/pens from bleeding through
​ Place cardboard pieces inside each bag and begin coloring your design! Let dry and then you can take the beautiful bag with you whenever you go shopping to help reduce plastic use!

Paper Towel Art

Create fun art pieces using paper towels!
You will need:
-Paper towel
-Black permanent marker
-Colored washable markers
-Scissors
-Shallow dish of water

​ Fold paper towel in half and then cut in half creating two pieces that look like a book. On one of the books use the permanent black marker to draw a design, allowing it to bleed through to the piece underneath. Next, open the book and color the impression left from page 1. Close the book and place in the shallow dish of water. The black and white design will be magically colored! Remove and let dry.

​Making Maracas

Re-use those plastic eggs by making maracas!  Check out our tutorial to get all the details.

Tin Can Drums

Collect different sized tin cans to create drums.  Decorate your drums with leftover art scraps, felt, tape, stickers, etc.

Recycled Houses Art

Provide plain cardboard, scissors, and markers for children to create houses with. Providing some stencils for the shapes would be helpful for preschoolers to be successful in cutting out the shapes. Cutting cardboard is a big workout for those little hands, consider having some extras already cut out for them for when their hands get tired.

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Art Ideas

23 Earth Day Crafts from Happy Hooligans
Earth Day Shaving Cream Paint Craft from Easy Preschool Craft
No Mess Painting in a Bag Earth Craft from Still Playing Preschool
Make a Toy Guitar out of Recycled Materials from Projects for Preschoolers

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Recycling Center

Easily set up your own Recycling Center for Dramatic Play using the printables from the Pre-K Printable Fun Recycling Center and Repair Clinic Dramatic Play Pack.  Pair the printables with a variety of bins and recyclable materials for children to practice what they have learned about recycling.  See more ways to set up this invitation to play on my Recycling Center and Repair Clinic Dramatic Play blog post. 

Recycling Center Dramatic Play Pack

Gardening and Composting

Set up a pretend play garden, and learn more about growing fruits, and vegetables and composting. Our Friend Erica created this garden! She placed pool noodles inside a box, attached garden edging, and covered the noodles with brown fabric dirt. 

Repair Shop

Set up a repair shop in your Dramatic Play Area. Invite children to try to fix broken things to help keep them out of the landfill. We have all the signs you need to easily set up this fun invitation to play included in our Recycling Center and Repair Clinic Dramatic Play Pack

Get this in our shop!

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Dramatic Play Ideas

Recycled Play from The Empowered Educator
Recycled Cardboard Playhouse from Preschool toolkit 

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Materials to Add to this Space

While learning all about Earth Day & Recycling add some fun and interesting materials to your building and small world space. Save up some recycled materials such as cardboard tubes, empty bottles, and a variety of lids for children to build with. For small world play include some recycling trucks, small people, and small containers that can be used as recycling bins. 
Consider making your own DIY mini recycling bins to enhance this play as a craft project this week with your preschooler. 

Build with Recyclables

This photo was shared by Sheena W. of Building Blocks Family Childcare
Choose a variety of recyclables that children could use for building, clean them up, and add them to your building center. The food containers on the left were wrapped in colorful duct tape for durability.
You can create specific challenges for preschoolers and encourage them to build anything they can dream of. 
One of the great things about using recyclables is the freedom to change them up using markers, tape, gluing on images etc. 
Find more Free & DIY Ideas for Your Building Space on my blog!

*Build a Tower with Recycled Materials 

Gather recycled materials and allow your preschooler to build a tower.  

*Recycled Town

Add a variety of recycled materials, scissors, tape, glue, etc. in the building center. Invite children to build a town with the recycled materials. Help children brainstorm different buildings and structures they could build in their Recycle Town!

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Construction & Small World Ideas

Recycled Building from Busy Toddler
Make a City from Paper Rolls by Today's Parent

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*Earth Day 3-Part Cards

There are so many vocabulary words to learn while engaging in this theme!
Use these 3-part Earth Day cards, from my Earth Day  & Recycling Activity Pack,  to play a matching game to support children in learning and remembering these words. 
Find more ways to use these cards in my Teaching Tips for Using 3-Part Cards with Preschoolers post. 

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Write an Earth Day Story

Use the writing template included in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack to create your own story about Earth Day. For preschoolers not ready to write encourage them to draw the illustration and dictate the story do an adult. 

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Recycle Name Collage

Put out a variety of recycled materials.  Have children form each letter of their name using the recycled materials to create a fun name collage! This activity is great for practicing letter formation as well as name and letter identification.

*Flip and Find Recycling Letter Mat

Use these recycling themed letter mats included in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack  to help children practice matching upper and lowercase letters. Put out the mat and lay out the water bottle letter cards face down. Have them turn over one card at a time and match it to the correct recycling bin.

Buy this activity pack!

Search for the Recycling Symbol

Environmental print is an important part of learning to read. Everywhere children go there are signs and print to spot; children can easily recognize restaurant logos, food packaging, street signs and more. 
Introduce the Recycling Symbol to your preschoolers and talk about the Recycling Trilogy. 
Then challenge your preschoolers to find the symbol in real life! 
You can provide a bin of recyclables for this project or go on a scavenger hunt. 
​Soon your preschooler will be recognizing this symbol everywhere they go!

Going Green Learning Song

Listen to the song “Going Green” and learn about different ways we can keep the Earth clean.  Work on recalling ways to keep Earth clean through discussion and replaying the song.  Listen to it on YouTube here. 

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The Earth Book by Todd Parr

Recycling Day by Edward Miller

Earth Day Every Day
by Lisa Bullard and Zin Zheng

Earth Day--Hooray!​
by Stuart Murphy and Renee Andriani
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Earth Day, Birthday!
by Maureen Wright and Violet Kim

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*Recycling Counting Mat 1-20

Work on number recognition and counting skills from 1-20 with this fun Recycling Truck Counting Mat. 
Flip a number card, identify the number, then add the total number to the recycling truck. 
This activity is easy to set up and a great addition to your math center for independent exploration. 
This activity can be found inside my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack

Buy this activity pack!

Beach Clean-Up Counting

Work on some adding fun with this counting activity. Select two addend cards, count up the number of recyclables altogether to find the total. Identify the matching trash bag number and place it at the end to finish the equation. 
This Earth Day Math Activity is included in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack

Buy this activity pack!

Sort Cans by Size & Color

Practice sorting cans by color and size with this recycling sorting activity from Pre-K Printable Fun

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*Recycle Roll & Sort 

Grab a buddy to play this fun Recycle Roll and Sort  game! Roll the playing cube, identify the type of recyclable shown. Find a matching recyclable on one of the cards to add to the bin. Working in a small group gives an opportunity for young children to figure out the answers together. 

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Sort Recyclables by 3D Shape

Provide recycled materials for children to sort by 3D shape (Cylinders, Rectangular Prism, Cube, etc).

Weigh Recycled Items

Gather a variety of recycles items. Weigh each of the recycled items to discover which are heavier and which are lighter using a scale. Have children make predictions about what items are heavy or light. 

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Math Ideas

Create a Trash Rainbow from No Time for Flashcards

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Make Your Own Paper

Make your own paper using old newspapers, water, blender, screen, and towel!
You can find more images and tips on our Make Your Own Paper Blog Post.
Step 1: Rip the newspaper into strips.
Step 2: Add to blender with water. Blend until combined.
Step 3: Pour the mixture on the screen and squeeze out excess water as you flatten it across the screen.
Step 4: Lay a towel on top of the screen to soak up extra moisture.
Step 5: Let dry.
Step 6: Use your homemade paper for all kinds of fun drawing activities!

Try this!

*Recycle or Compost?

Learn about which items can be recycled, which can be composted and the benefits of each. 
This would also be a good time to talk about what happens when an item that can be recycled ends up in the landfill, such as a plastic bottle. 
This sorting set is included in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack

Buy this activity pack!

Start a Worm Farm

This week would be a fun time to start up a worm farm with your preschoolers. 
See how to set up your very own DIY Worm Farm on my blog. 

Try this!

Shredded Paper Sensory Bin

Fill up your sensory bin with shredded newspaper this week. You can toss in other small recycled materials for children to explore such as cardboard tubes to push the paper through, plastic bottles to fill and a variety of lids to explore. 

Soda Bottle Composter

Use a large clear soda bottle or similar container to create a compost bin that children can observe.

Encourage preschoolers to draw what they see and talk about the changes they observe on a daily basis.

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Science Ideas

Making Recycled Paper from You Clever Monkey
​Seed Bombs from Little Bins for Little Hands
intheplayroom.co.uk/celebrating-earth-day-with-sensory-play/Earth Day Sensory Play from In the Playroom

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*Recycling Clip and Count Cards

Give little fingers a big workout by pairing clip card activities with clothespins. 
Adding a clothespins in a variety of sizes encourages engagement and works hands in different ways. 
These Count & Clip Recyclables Cards are included in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack. 

Buy this activity pack!

*Recycle Relay Race

Set up a fun relay race to encourage large muscle development. 
Word Wall Cards are a fantastic tool to use for gross-motor games. 
Pair the cards with objects from around the house or other printables. Set up the categories on one side of the room and the sorting objects on the other. Encourage children to move in a variety of ways as they travel across the room. Some ideas: Twirl like the Earth, Vroom like a Recycling Truck, Tumble like a Compost Bin
You can find this set of 16 Word Wall Cards in my Earth Day & Recycling Activity Pack. 

Buy this activity pack!

Earth Day Scavenger Hunt

Put together an Earth Day or Nature Themed Scavenger Hunt.

Backyard Scavenger Hunt

Earth Fine Motor Sweeping Mat

Pair our Earth mat from our Spring Sweeping Mats pack with sand for children to work on focus and fine motor skills as they sweep sand to fill in the image.

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Physical Development Ideas

Earth Day Game from Teach Preschool
Planet Earth Fine Motor Activity From Play Teach Repeat

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How I Care for Earth​

After learning about what it means to care for our planet, challenge your preschoolers to talk about ways they already care for Earth and new things they can do. 
Decide on three new things that you can do together to better the environment. 

Learn About the Recycling Community

Take some time to learn about the professionals in our community that help with recycling. 
This might include visiting a recycling center or taking a virtual field trip to a recycling center. 
Your library is a wonderful unexpected resource for this theme! They often have ideas for crafts that use recyclable material and of course fun book suggestions. 

List Ways to Keep the Earth Clean

During circle time or as a group, help children brainstorm ways that we can keep the earth clean. Some answers might include: recycling, reducing what we use, composting, picking up litter, etc. You can enhance the activity by creating visuals of their answers that you can keep hung up in the classroom during your Earth Day study!

Go on a Neighborhood Clean Up

Take the children from a walk around the neighborhood to help clean up litter. Give students plastic dish washing gloves or medical gloves and trash bags. Stop and point out litter that you see and have one child pick it up and put it in their bag. Talk about all of the things they cleaned up from their walk. You can extend the activity by talking about how we can prevent litter from happening.

More Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Social Studies Ideas

Learn More About Earth Day from Projects for Preschoolers

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​Up cycle Ideas for Your Space

Early Childhood Educators are always on the lookout for new and engaging activities and materials for their students that fit in their educator budget.
Here are some resources for DIY and Recycling materials to create learning activities and spaces for preschoolers:

10+ Ways for Using Tires in Your Outdoor Space
​DIY and Free Ideas for Your Building Space
DIY Educational Activity Ideas

Break Out the Sidewalk Chalk

Hopefully April means it's starting to warm up where you are. If so break out the sidewalk chalk! 
This is a great way to teach children to create without needing to use new materials. 
Use the Sidewalk Chalk Roll & Write set with your chalk to support children in letter recognition and formation. ​

Buy this activity pack!

Reuse Your Printables

If you use printables as a teaching tool consider laminating your materials.  Laminating your printables means they can be used time and time again without the need to reprint. Being able to use your printables with multiple children and even year-after-year is better for the environment and for your pocket book!
All you need is a simple laminator (nothing fancy) and some pocket laminating sheets. 

Places to Visit

Plan to visit places in your community that are related to this theme such as your local landfill or recycling center. Consider a visit to a pond or other body of water; make some observations about litter that may be present and think about what challenges the trash can create for our world and the creatures that inhabit it. 
Consider bringing personal safety equipment and a bin for picking up litter. 

Pledge to do Better: Family Engagement Idea

Identify 3 changes your family can make to make the earth healthier. 
Some ideas: Set up recycling bins, if you already use bins ensure you are using them regularly, start a compost bin, pick up trash in the neighborhood, share a book about recycling with a friend, tell a family member that lives far away about your contributions to inspire them. 

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Shop for Earth Day & Recycling Resources

Pre-K Printables Club Members can download all of these products for free!
Not a member? Learn more about our Membership here!

Earth Day & Recycling Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

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Recycling Center and Repair Clinic Preschool Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00

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Spring Fine Motor Sand Sweeping Mats

$3.00

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Sorting Cans by Color & Size

$2.00

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Spring Seek & Find Activities

$3.00

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Spring Rhymes for Preschool Circle Time

$3.00

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Spring Calendar Display

$3.00

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Positive Student Notes

$3.00

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Free Preschool Earth Day Crown

$0.00

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