It’s Earth Day this month, and it’s the perfect time to start conversations with our children about how we can care for our planet. Small, everyday choices can make a big difference—and when kids feel involved, those habits stick.
Here are 6 simple ways to love our Earth, each paired with a meaningful book and an easy activity to bring the idea to life and spark discussion.
1. Taking Care of Animals
Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough by Hayley Rocco is the story of David Attenbourough. It is also the story of how the Earth and its habitats for animals has changed during his lifetime. The beautiful illustrations and captivating story are appealing for children and adults alike.
Activity: Create your own bird feeder for your backyard using egg cartons or toilet paper tubes, peanut butter and bird seed. Hang it from a tree and watch all the birds it attracts!
2. Planting and Eating What We Grow
Thank You, Garden by Liz Garton Scanlon is the perfect book to inspire young gardeners. The colorful illustrations and poetic text shed light on all the beauty of a perfectly imperfect community garden. Gardens can be big or small, spark all of our senses, nourish humans and provide a home for creepy crawlys and other animals and this book depicts all of these things in the most fun way!
Activity: Start an herb garden or grow something simple like a tomato plant in a pot outside. Put your child in charge of watering it and let them observe it grow then use what you grow in a recipe!
3. How We Get Around
Eco The Little Electric Taxi by: Deb Adamson is the perfect book for a young, vehicle loving child! Eco and his driver stay busy transporting people around the city in an earth-councious manner. One day, they run into an emergency! A mother duck and her ducklings are crossing the street creating quite the traffic jam. With a sweet hero and fun rhymes, this makes the perfect Earth Day read for your toddler or young child.
Activity: Walk, Bike or Scooter somewhere nearby you would usually drive.
4. Protecting Our Oceans
The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the Worlds Coral Reefs by Kate Messner is about the dying off of coral reefs, what we can do to protect them, and what scientists have worked hard to do to regrow what has been lost. This is the story. It is inspirational, important, and informative.
Activity: Fill the water table or another container with water. Add items like bottle caps, straws etc. Challenge your child to “clean the ocean” using tongs. Time them and make it a game!
5. Recycling
Recycling Day: What Happens to the Things We Throw Away by Polly Faber will draw children AND adults in with its modern illustrations and interesting facts! Follow various trash items as they move through the recycling process to get reused in all sorts of ways! Bonus: Three pages of ways kids can get involved in recycling along with fun recycling facts!
Activity: Gather (clean) trash and let your child sort it into recycle, reuse or trash. Research what can be recycled and what can’t and discuss ways to cut back on consumption of trash in your home.
6. Composting
Wonder World: Earth: The Natural Science of Soil by Ben Lerwill will have your child fascinated with dirt! From the various animals and tiny creatures that call the soil home to the nutrients and even fungi in soil that support plant life, your child will gain a new appreciation for dirt!
Inside the Compost Bin by Melody Sumaoang Plan takes us on the journey of starting and caring for a compost bin. The illustrations in this one are mesmerizing and the fun facts will inspire your child to start their own compost bin! The good news is, this book includes instructions on how to do just that!
Activity: Start a Mini Compost Bin. Research what items can go into a compost and begin to collect them in a small container. (Fruit peels, egg shells etc.) Observe what happens over time.
Books for Littles:
Activity: Make a “garden” sensory bin! Fill with topsoil, plastic flower pots, shovels and faux (or real) flowers or vegetables.
