Earth Day is fast approaching (April 22), though there really is never a bad time to celebrate Mother Earth. It’s important to teach students the environmental benefits of recycling, like conserving energy and natural resources and reducing air and water pollution, all year long. While recycling breaks down old items in order to create something new, upcyling makes something new from an existing object in its current state. Challenge your students to create something unique and wonderful from preexisting items like magazines, plastic water bottles, tin cans, egg cartons, and more. Check out our list of the best recycled crafts for Earth Day or any day, and give some of them a try!
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1. Make wildflower seed bombs
Give back to Mother Earth with these easy-to-make seed bombs. Blend together used scraps of construction paper, water, and wildflower seeds in a food processor, then form them into tiny muffins. Let them dry, then toss them in the ground. As the seed bombs receive sun and rain, the paper will eventually compost and the seeds will germinate.
Take your kids on a nature walk to gather interesting leaves, flowers, berries, and the like. To make the wreath forms, braid together strips of old T-shirts and form them into a circle. Then attach natural items into the crevices and secure with clear fishing line or hot glue. Attach a ribbon at the top to hang your wreath.
Create a cozy place for all the creepy-crawlies to hang out. Cut a two-liter plastic bottle into two cylinders, then stuff it with sticks, pine cones, bark, or any other natural material. Make sure to pack the organic material tightly. Then loop a piece of twine or yarn around the two cylinders and hang your bug hotel from a tree branch or fence.
Textiles make up a huge portion of municipal solid waste—over 16 million tons per year. Teach your kids to repurpose old material that would otherwise end up in the landfill by putting together a cozy quilt.
We love Earth Day crafts that result in a practical object you can use around the house. This project is best for older students who have the patience and dexterity necessary to carefully roll their magazine strips and glue them together.
Pay tribute to our lovely planet on Earth Day with these fuzzy moss balls. Kids who love getting their hands dirty will particularly love this craft. All you do is squish pre-soaked sphagnum moss into a tight ball, wrap it tightly with blue yarn or strips of discarded T-shirts, layer more moss and more yarn, etc., until you’ve created an Earth-shaped orb. Finish with a loop of yarn and hang it in a sunny window. To keep your moss ball healthy, simply spray it with water every couple of days.
Scraps of paper are the only supplies you need for this recycled-flower-garden activity and lesson. The measurement and math element is an added bonus.
Learn more: Fun Earth Day Recycled Garden Activity
Glued to My Crafts
9. “Grow” an egg carton tree
Save those egg cartons! This simple project only requires a few supplies to make a recycled egg carton tree.
Save those paper rolls so your class can customize their own binoculars! Have a variety of paints, stickers, and the like on hand so your students can really personalize their bird-watchers.
Aluminum beverage pop-tops become wearable jewelry thanks to some ninja ribbon work. Show this video on your interactive whiteboard to give your students the full 411, and then get crafting!
Go outside for a nature walk and gather sticks, weeds, and pickable blooms, then bring the treasures inside to be showcased in recycled jar lids. With some wax paper and string, your students can craft this surprisingly beautiful recycled wind chime.
Brown paper bags become eco-canvases for artwork and a perfect way to adorn fridges for Earth Day. Bonus points if you can source handled bags because the handles serve as built-in artwork hangers.
Take students outside to collect small rocks and pebbles. Have them arrange the rocks into a pattern of their choice. Get creative, and try for as many different designs as you can!
This isn’t just any recycled crayon—it’s a gorgeous Earth crayon! You can make these with your kids using a muffin tin. You just need to sort out the right colors.
Recycling projects that use objects you may have lying around your garage or shed are some of our favorites. Grab that old rope you’ve been saving and create these adorable rope worms/snakes with your students.
Herald spring with this easy crowd-pleaser: the large plastic bottle bird feeder. This short video will teach kids how to get started constructing their feeders.
Tin cans are easy to get your hands on, and they can go a long way in organizing supplies. Get your kids involved by having them help decorate the cans. They’ll really take ownership of this, which will hopefully inspire them to keep supplies more organized.
Cut off the bottoms of beverage bottles or reuse food containers and jazz them up with bright-colored paper scraps. Except for the glue, these papier-mâché planters are composed solely of recycled materials.
Kids can work together to create an aluminum-can recycling center. Watch the video to get the simple instructions and learn how your school can make recycling fun and rewarding.
Recycling projects like these are the best since kids love robots. Be sure to have an extra pair of adult hands around to help with the hot glue for these Earth Day crafts.
Are these the sweetest Earth Day crafts ever? Plastic bottles from home become homes for fairies, thanks to paint, scissors, glue, and real or faux greenery.
This is an amazing recycled wall masterpiece. You could set it up on a cardboard backing and then let students add to it, paint it, and create with it whenever they have free time throughout the day.
Use bottle caps in a game of tic-tac-toe. They can also be turned into checkers. This would be a great makerspace activity. Give your kids several upcycled items and challenge them to create games with them.
We love how this upcycled magazine cut-paper art project can be modified for primary students or used to inspire sophisticated art by high school students.
A bottle gets a second life as a museum-worthy terrarium as well as a home for an environmental science project. Be sure to add the activated charcoal and moss for plastic bottle terrariums that flourish.
Your classroom studies of plant life, photosynthesis, and water conservation will get a boost with this hands-on crafting of a self-watering planter. The base? A good ol’ large plastic bottle.
Old newspapers find their spirit animal when they become recycled newspaper owls. All you need are markers, watercolors, and paper scraps to make them come alive.
Water bottles come together, as do your kids, to make this water bottle recycling center. This project combines teamwork with respect for our environment, a double win.
Cardboard is one of the easiest, least expensive materials you can get your hands on. Grab a ton of it and challenge your kids to make awesome creations. You never know what they might come up with.
Do you have a bunch of CDs lying around that never get played anymore? How about a box or drawer of markers that barely write? If you answered yes to these questions, then this is the perfect project for you.
These little ladybugs are so cute and yet so, so simple. Grab some bottle caps, paint, googly eyes, and glue and get ready to make some adorable friends!
Simple to make and beautiful to display, these coffee filter Earths are a cinch. Simply color with blue and green markers, then squirt with a water bottle.
How creative is this egg carton craft for Earth Day? All you need is egg carton sections, pipe cleaners, scissors, and craft paint, and voilà! Superhero goggles.
Salt dough crafts are so much fun to celebrate Earth Day! Make these colorful medallions, then attach string. Your kids will wear their Earth Day pride for all to see.
