What better way to kick off spring with an Earth Day activity! Earth Day is on April 22 this year and is a fantastic opportunity to introduce important lessons and habits to our kids!
First up for us was an Early Literacy activity: E is for EARTH
Yes, we created a Letter E from soil! I was inspired by beautiful potting soil I have waiting for seeds, plants and flowers. Well, the planting is going to start this coming week but we decided to give the soil a little love and attention.
What you need:
If you are not able to do this activity outside (like us on this particular day) place a piece of yellow, blue, brown, or green construction paper or card stock (we used yellow card stock) in cardboard box on top of a mat. Easy pick up and your child will still be able to explore and have a sensory blast with the activity.
Grab your glue and make a letter E. If possible draw a letter E first and let you child squeeze out the glue, tracing the letter E. My child is 2.5 and while he would have truly owned this responsibility, I am afraid the letter E would have been lost his wonderful glue approach!
Grab your soil and get your hands dirty! This part is fun.
Let dry. This part is hard. I actually let our E dry overnight.
The next morning, we were excited to reveal our Letter E! The result was beautiful!
The only thing I would do differently NEXT time and suggest to you is to mount the paper/card stock on a piece of cardboard, or something sturdier. The soil, as it turned out, was heavy. It dried nicely but weighed down on the paper.
Finally, if you are feeling really creative and have a patient child, paint the card stock/paper with earth tones such as blue, green, brown, yellow, let dry and then apply glue and soil. I also covered the Letter E with contact paper to preserve and protect our creation, which gave me an opportunity to talk about how precious the earth’s resources are to us. It also contained the mess!
Thank you for visiting!
Marnie
I shared this post on the: Earth Day Blog Hop.
Marnie Craycroft
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I love this idea, such a lovely tactile way to link E with Earth.
The Monko recently posted…Money Box activity
Aww, thanks!
I’m a huge fan of alphabet crafts – well done with this one! (Found you via NTFFC) and I’ve pinned your E up! I’ll visit again!
Thanks Ann Marie!
First of all I LOVE all your Earth day Activities. Thanks for sharing such great ideas! I saw this post and it reminded me of a neat earth necklace made from gathered dirt into a ball and thought it would tie in really well with this activity. I pinned it on our Eco Friendly and Fun Board with your activity! http://pinterest.com/educatorsspinon/eco-friendly-fun-living-and-learning/
Kim recently posted…8 Activities for Kids with Lids
Thanks Kim! We love Earth Day around here!
I loved your cap post today. I have two posts, I think (maybe more) using caps. Here is one of them: http://carrotsareorange.com/simple-tong-activity/ Love caps!
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My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Do you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome web site!
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Awww, thanks Robyn! I do my best!
~ Marnie