Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Weekly Theme: Love Our Planet – More Activities
Marbled Earth
Use a piece of blue construction paper and cut into circle and place in box or baking
pan with high sides. Add a few marbles and yellow paint and roll away. (Supposed to
look like the Earth!)
Potato Planters
Supplies:
Potato
Misc. craft Supplies
Potting Soil
Grass Seed
Scoop out some of the potato before you give it to the children. Let the children make a
face with the pipe cleaners, yarn and eyes. When they have finished add the soil and
grass seed. When the grass grows your potato has hair.
Earth Sun Catcher
Supplies:
Glue
Blue Food Coloring
Margarine Tub Lid
Brown Permanent Marker
Yarn or String
Pour about 1/3 cup of white glue into a cup, and add about 5 drops of food coloring, stir
well. This will dry much darker, so don't add any more color than this. Fill a margarine
tub lid with the glue, and let it dry completely. This could take several days, even a week
if there is a lot of humidity. When it is totally dry,peel the blue circle out of the lid. With a
brown permanent marker, draw on the land forms. This will usually stick to the glass
window, but if it doesn't, punch a hole in the top and thread a piece of yarn or ribbon
thru it to hang.
Coffee Filter Earth
What You Need:
Coffee Filters
Food coloring
Water droppers
What You Do:
Let your children use eyedroppers to drop blue and green colored water on a coffee
filter. They will love watching the filter absorb the water. When it is done the filters look
just like the earth.
Earth’s Wonders
Display natural earth wonders, such as : sea shells, rocks, crystals, geodes, pine cones,
seeds, twigs, etc. Encourage the children to add to the collection. Provide magnifying
glasses to study the wonders. Have books nearby that picture earth's natural resources.
July 2009
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Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Mr. Garbage Man
In advance, gently scatter some "light litter" (like gum wrappers, small paper strips,
Styrofoam pieces, etc). During your Greetings Time, announce that the special play for
the City Center is to use all the toy dump trucks to go around the classroom and gather
trash like our community helper, the "Garbage Man." Discuss why this job is so
important to us and to the earth. Where do they take the trash?
Magazine House
Using an old catalog or magazine, cut out pictures of chairs, tables, curtains, bathroom
fixtures and other furnishings. Spread out a large sheet of drawing paper. Sketch an
"open sided" house. Have children place the pictures of the furnishings in the rooms of
their choice. They can cut out more pictures to redecorate their house, cut out pictures
of people, toys, pets, and anything they like!
Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Need: Lard or peanut butter, String, Pine cone, Birdseed
Tie a piece of string around the widest part of the cone.
Mix the lard and seed together, and then press the mixture into the branches of the
cone.
Use the string to tie the cone up in a tree or bush for the birds to enjoy.
Cheerio Chains
Wrap tape on one end of a long length of yarn. Tie a knot with a Cheerio on it at the
other end. Demonstrate how to string the chain by sliding a Cheerio (or any "O" shaped
cereal) over the tape (needle) and dropping it to the bottom. Invite children to help you
until the entire chain is strung. Drape these chains around outside tree for birds/animals
to enjoy.
Recycle Town
Collect clean recycled items, and allow the children to build a city from them, on a large
recycled box, cut along seams to make it flat and large. some suggestions for recyled
items...plastic milk jugs, plastic milk jug lids, cereal boxes, oatmeal boxes, plastic
microwave food containers, etc.
Colored Crystals
Supply each child with a clean baby food jar. Assist him in measuring one tablespoon of
water and one tablespoon of Epsom salts into the jar. Stir in one fourth teaspoon of
blue, yellow, or red food coloring. After a few days, encourage your students to examine
their jars. They'll be amazed to see colored crystals.
Compost Pile Experiment
Start a compost pile in a jar: mix soil, kitchen scraps and leaves. Shake occasionally to
"turn it over." See what happens. For a variation, add things to the mix that don't
decompose (plastic, marbles, etc.). After a month or so, dump the contents and see if
the children can identify which things decomposed and which did not.
Rock Play
Collect rocks of all sizes and shapes for children to investigate and compare.
July 2009
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Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Magnification
Allow the children to take magnifying glasses outdoors to look at things in nature.
Air Pollution Detectors
Use markers to write each child's name on a separate index card. Have each child
spread some petroleum jelly on it and hang around the school and outside. See what is
in our air by letting the kids use magnifying glasses to observe what dust, debris,
particles, bugs, etc have collected during a one-week period. Sticky contact paper also
works well.
Water Pollution Activity
Place a white carnation in a container of black-colored water. The colored water will
work its way up the stem and into the flower, turning the flower gray. Discuss how water
pollution can get into plants. Animals and humans eat plants. What can pollution do to
us?
Sun Print
Take a dark colored craft paper and arrange different items like leaves, flowers, yarn,
and other items on the paper. Place in sunshine for about 1 hour. Remove items and
remove from sunshine. Only the silhouettes of the items will remain on the paper. You
just made a sun print.
Earth’s Wonders
Display natural earth wonders, such as: sea shells, rocks, crystals, geodes, pine cones,
seeds, twigs, etc. Encourage the children to add to the collection. Provide magnifying
glasses to study the wonders. Have books nearby that picture earth's natural resources.
Earth Day Song - Sung to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
Earth Day, Earth Day,
Comes once a year.
But we should make our message clear.
Love and clean our Earth each day.
Make that plan a plan to stay.
Earth Day, Earth Day,
Comes once a year,
Love and care for our Earth so dear.
Earth Day song - Sung to "Mulberry Bush"
This is the way we pick up trash,
pick up trash, pick up trash.
This is the way we pick up trash
To help our Mother Earth.
Recycling Song - Sung to "Mulberry Bush"
Recycling is the smart thing to do,
smart thing to do, smart thing to do.
July 2009
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Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials
Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Recycling is the smart thing to do,
separating things we can use.
Recycled Collection Jars
Empty glass jars make great containers for holding all kinds of things: penny collections,
marbles, pencils and other collectibles.
What you need:
 Empty jar(s)
 Tissue paper, fancy napkins or wrapping paper
 Glue
 Paintbrush
 Small charms, jewels or beads
 Sparkles or glitter
What you do:
1. Wash and dry an empty glass jar.
2. Tear the tissue paper, napkins or wrapping paper into small pieces.
3. Hold the paper on the jar and use a paintbrush to apply glue on the paper, make
sure to brush the glue onto to jar too, so the paper will stick. Continue working in this
fashion until the jar is completely decorated.
4. If you want to add sparkles, cover sections of the jar with glue (on top of the paper)
and apply the sparkles.
Puppet Shows and Skits
Allow children to make puppets out of recyclable materials, such as scrap cloth, papiermâché, yarn and bottle caps. Have them write out an Earth Day-themed puppet show
that focuses on one aspect of being eco-friendly, from recycling to locally grown foods.
Lorax Litter Sweep Relay
Divide into two teams and give each team a broom and a small pile of dry trash soda cans, paper, small plastic bottles, etc. On the signal, the first person on each
team sweeps the trash to a certain point and back. The next team member then
takes over, and so on until all have run. First team finished wins. If a player loses
any trash he must sweep back and pick it up.
Move the Earth
Place the large ball in the center of the court. Divide students in half on each side
of the court. Each team gets 3 smaller balls and throws them at the bigger ball in
the center, trying to move the earth to the other teams side.
Litter Walk: Give students one glove to put on. Use that hand to collect litter. Take a
trash bag for your group and police the area assigned for litter to help our Earth on
Earth Day!
I Spy Nature Walk
One of the best Earth Day activities is a nature walk. Make it even more fun with a
game of “I Spy.” Point out features that are positive, such as flowers and the correct use
of garbage cans as well as negatives, such as litter and vandalism.
July 2009
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Activity ideas obtained from ACES staff and public domain materials