Activity 1: Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Go out into the playground, playing field or local park and locate various environmental sights. Who can collect 5 different leaves? Who can spot the biggest tree? How many ladybirds can you see? Think of some of your own ideas for your scavenger hunt!

A scavenger hunt will get you thinking about the world around you and encourage you to pay attention to the different plants and beasts that live on your doorstep.

Use this scavenger hunt document as a template.

Activity 2: Minibeast Safari

You may have looked a lot at Mini Beasts down in Key Stage One, but your learning shouldn't stop there! Head to the park or school playground and see how many different insects you can spot. Did you know that so many different species lived just outside school or your home?

Have a look at the Environmental Awareness sheet, find some insects and tick when you’ve spotted one and write down where you saw it. 

Activity 3: Make a Rain Gauge

A perfect science-based activity to learn about rainfall and weather.

You could even conduct the experiment in different seasons to see how the rainfall changes over the course of a year.

The UK Met Office provides some simple instructions for making your own rain gauge:

Activity 4: Make a Leaf Collage

Go and collect fallen leaves from around school or at home. Use the identification sheet below to help you to identify which trees they have fallen from. 

Then your challenge is to make a picture using only paper, leaves, pens and glue. Maybe you could make leaf-monsters for Halloween?

Try the Natural History Museum’s ‘Tree Identification Key’ for more help.

Activity 5: Make a Weather Map

Why not try creating your very own classroom or home weather map? Get hold of a large map of the UK and create some sunshine, cloud, thunder etc symbols and then create the weather forecast for each day.

Make a habit of finding out what the weather will be the night before and then stick on the forecast for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the next morning.

Why do you think the weather is different across the UK? Why is it sunny in England but raining in Scotland?

Activity 6: Growing Cress Seeds

Learn about germination and photosynthesis by having a go at this little science experiment.

Plant one batch of your cress seeds and pop them in a dark cupboard, plant another batch and give them no water and put the final batch on the windowsill with both light and water.

Which seeds grow the best? Why is this the case? Send Mrs Yates your findings!

Activity 7: Make a Wind Turbine

This Science activity is great to learn more about the weather as well as how wind turbines can be used as a source of renewable energy.

Research green energy and the different sources that can be used and then recreate your own windmills to take outside.

Try this simple pinwheel turbine from Alliant Energy.

Activity 8: Recycled Robots

Gather a few bits of waste packaging from home that were going to be thrown away – think cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and tin foil.

Collate all the waste items on a table and then re-use and recycle the materials and make rubbish robots!

This is a fun craft activity that will educate you about the amount of rubbish that gets thrown away and could be recycled.

Activity 9: Bee Friendly Garden

Bees are a vital part of our gardens but their importance can often be overlooked. They are also in decline due to the removal of flowers from the landscape leaving them with little food.

Plant some flowers in your school playground or at home and see if you can research pollination.

Try this Flower Finder from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to identify the bee-friendly flowers and find out your current bee kind score.

Activity 10: Have a Paper-Free Day!

Can you go an entire day without using any paper? The amount of paper that gets used and goes to waste every day in our school is definitely something to improve. Perhaps it is the same at home?

Do you miss the paper? Do you find it hard not to use any?

Have a think about everything from worksheets to text books and posters on the wall. How would you recommend the school saves paper in future?

Activity 11: Recycling Jam Jars

Raise awareness about the importance of recycling with this creative activity.

Can you come up with an alternative use for used jam jars, plastic bottles or cereal boxes?

 ‘How could we reuse these items in the future to prevent them going to waste?’ Send your ideas to your class teacher or to Mrs Yates!

Activity 12: Matching Pairs

Make some ‘matching pairs’ cards featuring endangered animals. Can you find all the pairs?

This is a simple activity that will raise awareness of protecting the future of these vulnerable animals.

Why not make up pairs of the animals and their countries or the animals and their natural habitats?

Try these matching pair cards if you don’t fancy making your own.

Activity 13: Energy Quiz

Quizzes are a fun way to learn more about renewable energy sources, electricity and fuel. 

Perhaps you could write their own quiz questions to present to the rest of the class or your family?

This energy quiz from the BBC is a great online activity.

Activity 14: Eco-Friendly Classroom

Can you make the classroom more environmentally friendly – what would you change?

You might like to think about reusing old carrier bags, recycling paper, turning the lights off, turning the computers off at night and wear an extra jumper to keep warm.

How difficult are your suggestions to put into practice? Could some of their ideas be used in the classroom from now on? What about at home?

Can you design your own poster to help encourage other children or your family?

Activity 15: Lunch Without Waste

Think about how much rubbish you create every day. Have a look at your lunch but keep all the packaging you’ve used, including cling film, tin foil, yoghurt pots and chocolate bar wrappers etc.

How much rubbish did you create just from one meal? How would this multiply over a week, a month and a year? Try and bring in your lunch without any packaging at all! Can you manage it? Can you reuse any of the rubbish you created?

Activity 16: Nature Bingo

Head outside into the playground or local park and take a nature bingo card. Perhaps you can make your own bingo card and play with your family?

Who can spot all of the things on their card?

Choose sights such as a tall tree, an acorn, a duck and a ladybird to get learning about the world around you and the other wildlife and plants that live there.

Activity 17: Walk to School Week

Take part in the yearly Walk to School Week event and walk the whole way, or part of the way, to school every day for a whole week! The campaign aims to encourage parents and children to leave the car at home and get fit by walking to and from school.

Have a think about the impact that cars can have on the environment. You can find out more about the event below.

Activity 18: Calculate Food Miles

Did you know about the distance food has to travel before it reaches you table and the environmental impact that this has? Have a look at some food items from different origins and think about how it has arrived in the classroom or your house. For example, the banana may have been transported by truck, then a boat, then a supermarket lorry and then their teacher’s car just so they can look at it now!

Use the Food Miles website calculator to work out how far your food has travelled.