We are celebrating Earth Day later this week, and there is so much beauty this planet has to offer that can actually be found in your own backyard! We know it’s not always easy to pack up little ones to go volunteer in the community, so here are some ideas for how you and the family can have this environmental holiday without leaving home.

Get outside
The best way to celebrate the great outdoors is to just…get outdoors!  Schedule some of your daily activities to be done outside, such as classwork, lunch, or even an outside gym class.  While you’re outside, have a conversation about what you love most about your yard–and brainstorm what changes you would like to make as we move into warmer weather.

Make the yard your classroom
There are some free online lesson plans from TurfMutt.com that make it easy for you to add a little environmental education to your remote learning.  Based on STEM principles, the lessons give kids prompts they need to have fun learning about and exploring nature in their own backyards.

Set up a scavenger hunt
Look around your yard and make a list of items for your children to find.  Once they have found everything on the list, collect all the nature finds and make them into a craft.  Need some ideas for what to put on your list? We found a great download here.  Also, Adventures in Scavenger Hunt has some free scavenger hunt lists for exploring your house and in your car.

Start a garden
This is the perfect time to plant that garden that has been on your “to-do” list for years.  Creating a backyard garden space with your kids gives you the opportunity for some true hands-on learning as you dig in the dirt and plant your seeds.

Create a backyard compost
There are so many positives to composting, and although it may seem overwhelming, making compost in your own backyard keeps the environmental conversation going all year long.  We found a great “get started” guide here.

We would love to know how you and your family are celebrating Earth Day this year.  Share some pictures with us in our Facebook community.