Earth Day Activities For Kids In Spanish
Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22nd since 1970 and it’s an important holiday to talk about with children. Even though it’s celebrated just one day a year, creating an Earth conscious lifestyle is crucial.
In this post I am going to share some Earth friendly activities that you and your family can do on el Dia de la Tierra – or all year long!
I include some physical ways to take care of the Earth, like litter walks and recycling, as well as art projects, books, and lifestyle suggestions. Most sections also include helpful Spanish words and phrases to use with each activity.
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Table of Contents
Litter Walk
Earth Day is all about bringing awareness to taking care of the Earth – a task that belongs to all of us. One of the ways that we can show care for the Earth all year round, is by picking up litter and disposing of it properly.
There is a shocking amount of litter to be picked up – everywhere you go! And while some litter is intentional, I’ve found that lots of times, things just get away from people.
I know that in our own neighborhood garbage and recycling escapes the containers on garbage pick-up day whenever there’s really strong wind. We’ve also seen people eating out and their napkin gets caught in the wind, or a piece of garbage accidentally falls into a place that you can’t reach, like a drain.
Regardless of why it is there or whose garbage it is, it’s the task of everyone to help clean it up and make sure that it goes in the right place. That’s one of the hardest parts of going on a litter walk actually. Usually when we got out, we carry two bags, one for garbage and one for recycling.
If you’re collecting plastic cans and bottles and mixing them with the other garbage that you’ve collected and throwing it all out together, you’re just transferring the problem from one area to another. It’s important to take care of the way that the litter gets disposed of and that means that recycling stays together and garbage stays together.
My daughter and I each have our own litter “claw” and we keep them in the carrying bag that they came with. We usually go on a litter walk every week or every other week. And if we notice that an outdoor place, like a playground that we go to has a lot of litter, we go back with our claws and do a clean up there, too.
Here are the ones that we have and use:
We use these claws because they are a good length for my daughter to use and have a grip that’s easy to manipulate. They can come collapse so we can easily throw them in the car to take with us.
Showing your child that picking up litter is important and allowing them to safely take part in the process is helping them to be a more responsible citizen of the world.
Here are some Spanish words and phrases that we use when we go out on our litter walks:
La basura (garbage/litter)
Una bolsa de basura (garbage bag)
Un cubo de basura (garbge can)
El dia de recolesccion de basura (garbage day)
Vertedero (garbage dump)
Reciclar (recycle)
La papelera de reciclaje (recycle bin)
Una bolsa de reciclaje (recycle bag)
Tirar basura en la calle (to litter)
Contaminar (contaminate/litter)
Cuidar la tierra (care for the Earth)
Ves basura en el suelo? (Do you see litter on the ground?)
Puedes ponerla en la bolsa de basura? (Can you put it in the garbage bag?)
Esta hecho de plastico? (Is it made of plastic?)
Pertenece a la bolsa de reciclaje. (That goes in the recycle bag)
For more seasonal Spanish activities check out this article!
Spanish Activity – Seasonal Write The Room
Earth Day Art
When you search around on the internet, there are a ton of Earth Day art projects that you can make with your kids. While a lot of these projects and posters look cool, my favorite Earth Day art is made with all natural materials.
Helping my daughter to see the beauty in our world is just one of the ways that I can encourage her to take care of it.
Usually we start by going on a walk and looking for things in nature that look interesting or beautiful. We make a collection of sticks, rocks, pine cones, leaves, flowers, etc. and bring them back home with us.
Once we’re home we arrange the items that we found in different ways to make art. Sometimes we make a picture of a specific thing, like a person or an animal. Other times we assemble the items in the shape of a circle to fill it in and make art.
Here are some Spanish words and phrases that we use when we go out on our nature walks and make art:
Hoja (leaf)
Piedra (stone)
Palo (stick)
Petalo (petal)
Pina (pine cone)
Aguja de pino (pine needles)
Flor (flower)
Que encontraste? (What did you find?)
Que quieres crear? (What do you want to make?)
Constructing With Recycled Products
One way to help your children understand recycling is to use your family recyclables for other purposes. It can be more concrete for your child to understand that an empty egg carton doesn’t have to just go in the recycling can, that it can be repurposed first!
We have used common recyclables for lots of things including seed trays, plant holders and art projects.
Digging through your own recycling can be a fun way to work a project instead of using brand new materials. Here are some constructions that we’ve made using recyclables in our own home.
Read About Earth Day
As always, reading about a topic is one of the best ways to build awareness and vocabulary for it. My daughter and I have a few books on taking care of the Earth and I’m always on the lookout for new ones.
I believe that both fiction and nonfiction books can help to spread the importance of Earth Day, as long as they have good ideas or information and bring up good talking points.
Here are some of our go-to Earth Day books:
For more nonfiction Spanish book recommendations check out this post here!
Nonfiction Books In Spanish For Kids
Conscious Diet
Science tells us that the way food is mass produced, especially meat, is a cause of significant environmental damage around the world.
While this is a part of our behavior that is still evolving and changing, I’ve overhauled our diet a lot in the past few years. I’m continuing to experiment with new foods and find new products that work well for our family, while also trying to do my best to lower our environmental impact.
Some changes that we’ve made include gardening to grow some basic foods in the summer, eating less meat and fewer animal products, and using reusable napkins/lunch containers.
We still have a long way to go in this area, but having the conversations with my daughter help to bring awareness to our need to take care of the Earth and do our part to lower our environmental impact.
More Spanish Resources
Spanish Playground: This site has a great page filled with Spanish resources and links for activities for Earth Day! My favorites are the infographic pages with lots of pictures and vocabulary that are easy to use with kids and Spanish language learners (like me!)
EPA: Another great resource for Earth Day materials in Spanish is the EPA website. On their site they have a whole section with activities, printables and ideas for kids and teachers. We have used their activitiy: “Los Protectores del Planeta: actividades para niños y recursos educativos sobre reciclaje”. Check out more of their activities and information pages here:
Spanish Mama: Spanish Mama has a few posts on her site about Earth Day, but this one is my favorite because it includes a huge diversity of resources and activities for all different age groups.
Earth Day should be celebrated everyday to help make our children more aware of their impact on the environment!
What do you do to celebrate Earth Day? Share in the comments below!
Happy Learning!
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