Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now
 

Since Earth Day is April 22, I want to share ideas for Montessori-inspired Earth Day activities using some great free printables I found online.

The hands-on activities in this post are for preschoolers through first graders. You'll find many more activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. 

You can find my previous posts easily in this post at Living Montessori Now: More Than a Year's Worth of Freebies and Montessori-Inspired Activities. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities. 

Earth Day Sensory Tub/Dig and Match-Up

For this activity, I used 2 sets of matching Earth Day cards from the Royal Baloo Earth Day Printable Packs sized to print on a 4x6 page. I used an inexpensive tray from the grocery store, child-size shovel, mini planter from the Dollar Tree, and black beans from the Dollar Tree. I hid the cards in the black beans to add interest and a sensory experience to the matching activity. A different type of Earth Day printable could be used, though, according to the child's age and ability. 

Land and Water Pom Pom Transfer 

The land and water pom pom transfer would make a good extension to an introduction of land, air, and water or the land and water globe. I found the printable in the Earth Day Pack from Itsy Bitsy Learners. The tray is an inexpensive wooden tray from a hobby store. A child could use a sugar tongs or another type of tonging tool. Toddlers could even use this activity by transferring pom poms with their fingers.

Count the Trees Activity

 

This activity used another printable from Royal Baloo's Earth Day Printable Packs. There are printable trees in the pack that can be used for the activity, although I prefer to use 3-D objects whenever possible.

 

I used the Safari Ltd. Trees TOOB with the printable to create a 3-dimensional hands-on counting activity. For older children, you could create a greater than/less than activity using the same printables along with the greater than/less than alligators from an earlier post of mine at PreK + K Sharing: Montessori-Inspired Greater Than Less Than Alligator Math.

Sorting Recyclables

I have free 3-Part Recycle Cards from my 1st blogiversary (I just celebrated my 3rd blogiversary on Saturday - and I'm celebrating all month at Living Montessori Now!)

You could print these out, laminate them, and cut them apart to use as 3-part cards similar to ones used in my Montessori-Inspired Peter and the Wolf Activities.

You could also create Montessori-inspired activities using the recycle cards to prepare creative writing or sorting activities similar to the sorting recyclables activity from To the Lesson!

Write a Recycling Story

This activity for preschoolers with advanced skills through first graders uses another printable from Royal Baloo's Earth Day Printable Packs. I just printed out the pages on printer paper and added a pencil and pencil sharpener to an inexpensive wooden tray from the hobby store.

More Free Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to more Earth Day freebies: Free Earth Day Printables and Activities.

More Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities

For more Montessori-inspired Earth Day activities, check out these posts with lots of activities: Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities, Montessori-Inspired Activities for Earth Day Every Day, Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities (2012), and Montessori-Inspired Lorax Activities If you'd like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout April, see April Themed Activities for Kids. Happy Earth Day every day!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in Colorado Springs with her husband of 37 years and their cat of 11 years. She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

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