Celebrate Earth Day With your Students
Happy Earth Day!
To celebrate, we’d like to thank our farmers who tend to the soil that grows delicious and healthy food. For farmers, every day is Earth Day! This year’s theme is Restore our Earth - which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.
Kids across the world are celebrating by doing something for the earth- recycling, composting, and starting edible gardens! You can check out what kids are doing across the world by checking out this map!
If you are ready to celebrate Earth Day and get your hands in the soil, we’ve got a few fun soil STEM activities for kids listed below. Our home subscription kit theme this month was Farm Life: In the Soil. So, we’re kind of geeking out on soil over here.
These activities can be modified for kids ages Pre-K to 4th grade.
Give thanks! If you go to a farmers market this weekend, make sure you tell a farmer thank you for growing delicious healthy food. Or, before you start eating, you can always take a moment to acknowledge the hands that grew the food.
Never met a farmer? Check out our Farmer Videos for kids on our YouTube channel.
Listen and sing along to "Dirt Made My Lunch" by Banana Slug String Band . It’s silly. It’s educational. It will get stuck in your head forever. You’re welcome!
Take 2 samples of soil from outside. Compare the color, texture and smell!
Investigate the soil… what’s growing in there? Take a sample from two places outside: where “nothing is growing”, and where “something is growing”- weeds, grass, etc. Get a magnifying glass and compare the two samples. Are they different colors? Do they feel different? Do they smell different? Did you find any worms or other critters?
All of our food comes from soil, sun, water and air — thanks,Earth! If you are having a sandwich for lunch, take a good look at all the ingredients. Can you figure out how all the ingredients came from the soil? What are the steps it took to get from the soil to your lunch box?
Kids love investigating soil with magnifying glasses! What critters will you find?
Want to do more soil lessons? Our smart friends at FoodCorps have several lessons on soil in their Sprout Scouts Leaders Handbook.
We love the Soil to Smoothie activity on page 31! In this science lesson, children will consider all the steps from farm to plate for each smoothie ingredient. This is a great activity for a class, as kids can line up to help “tell the story” of the smoothie journey!
Another fun activity is Soil Testing on page 34. All you need is a clear jar, a scoop of dirt, and some water. Shake it up and let it settle for 24 hours. When they return, kids can investigate their soil types by layer: sand, silt and clay.
Have fun getting your hands in the dirt! Send us photos of your activities, or ideas for more soil lessons at hello@smallbites.club.
Happy Earth Day!