Writing prompts for Earth Day is a great way to get your students to write and think about the environment. These Earth Day writing prompts can be used in 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, and beyond.
80 Writing Prompts About the Environment
Choose an Earth Day writing prompt below to begin your writing activity and celebrate Earth Day with your kids!
- Write a letter to the Earth telling it how much you love and appreciate it.
- Write about an environmental problem that affects your life and what you’re doing about it.
- Write about an experience with nature that changed your life.
- Write a poem about nature or the environment in general.
- Write a story about an environmentalist who’s trying to save a species that’s threatened with extinction.
- Write a story about a person who wants to start recycling but can’t find the time or motivation to do so.
- Write about a person who’s struggling with climate change and how it’s affecting them.
- Write about what it means to be alive.
- Write about how you’ll be better with the environment on April 22nd (Earth Day).
- Write about pollution on planet Earth.
- Write about how we can help protect our planet’s ecosystems.
- Write about what environmental issues you think will be most important in the future.
- Write about how you can best reduce waste in your household.
- Use your imagination to write a story set in the future.
- Write about how you’d help save the environment if you could go back in time and talk to yourself as a child.
- Write about a time when you felt connected to the Earth.
- Write about an inspiring person who’s helped make our world more environmentally conscious and why they inspire you.
- Write about your favorite place in nature and why you like it so much.
- Write about an experience where you saw someone else inspired by nature.
- Write a letter from Mother Nature to humans about what she thinks of us.
- Write about your favorite environmental hero (real or fictional).
- Write about the people who’ve influenced your view of the environment.
- Write about something happening right now that’s affecting our planet’s ecosystem and find out more about it!
- Describe what you think will happen in 20 years if we don’t start taking care of our planet now.
- Make a list of 5 ways you can be more environmentally conscious in your everyday life (e.g., recycle, use less water, etc.). Then try one of them this week!
- Write about something that’s been on your mind lately that’s to do with how we’re treating our planet (e.g., plastic pollution in the ocean).
- Write about how much you love spring and all the flowers that are blooming everywhere.
- Write about the choices you make to take care of the Earth.
- Write about something that makes you happy when you see it in nature.
- Write about the smell of fresh air
- Write about recycling opportunities in your community.
- Write about how protecting the environment makes people healthier.
- Write about the benefits of eating organic food.
- Write about the impact humans have on the environment.
- Write about what you’d do if you were President of the United States and had to deal with climate change.
- Write about when you saw the environment negatively impacted by human activity.
- Write about a time when you felt that nature was sending you a message and what that message was.
- Write about a natural element that’s important to your survival (water, air, etc.).
- Write about coral reefs.
- Write about how we can better educate our children about protecting the environment.
- What’s the best thing about living on this planet?
- Why should we worry about the health of our planet?
- If you could describe our planet in one word, what word would you choose?
- What does it mean to be an environmentalist?
- How do you think your lifestyle affects the environment?
- What’s the biggest issue affecting the Earth?
- What do you think is the most endangered part of the Earth?
- What’re the goals of Earth Day?
- What steps can we take to protect our planet?
- What would it be if you could give one piece of advice to the next generation?
- What does “sustainability” mean to you? How can we live in a way that’s sustainable for future generations?
- What do you think are the biggest issues facing our environment today? How can we work together as a community to solve them?
- What’s the most important element of a healthy environment?
- What activities can you do on Earth Day to help protect our planet’s resources?
- What if we could turn our trash into food?
- What do you think is the biggest environmental problem of our time?
- What positive thing can you do for the environment today?
- Do you recycle? Why or why not?
- If you could change one thing about how people treat the environment, what would it be?
- Do you think it’s possible to live a life that’s no negative impact on the environment? If so, what would that look like?
- What’s your favorite place to hike?
- Is there a way you can help the environment by changing one of your daily habits?
- When do you feel most connected to nature (flowers, trees, water, etc.)?
- What would you like to see more of in your community?
- How would you describe Earth Day to someone who’s never heard of it?
- What great strategies for the environment already exist?
- What’re 10 facts about Earth Day?
- What new forms of transportation do you think can make the world a better place?
- What types of technology are good for the environment?
- What actions could your city take to save energy?
- How can we use technology to solve these challenges?
- Are there any companies or organizations that are doing good work to protect our planet?
- What is the most important thing to know about our planet?
- What’s the scariest thing about climate change?
- How can we reduce our carbon footprint?
- What would it be if you could tell a celebrity to do something for the planet?
- Do you think there are enough laws in place to protect our environment, or do more laws need to be passed to protect our planet even more thoroughly than before?
- How can we ensure that future generations have access to clean air and water?
- How can we protect endangered species and habitats?
- Do you think we’re doing enough to protect our environment today, or should we be doing more than we’re now? Why or why not? What would you recommend people do to protect the health of our planet in the future?
How Creative Writing Can Be Fun for Kids
Earth Day is a great opportunity to show kids how they can help protect our planet. It’s a good day to talk about recycling, using less water and electricity, and planting a garden. But it’s also a good time to have fun with creative writing activities.
Here are some ideas for using creative writing activities in your classroom:
- Write a story about what Planet Earth means to you. Have each student write their own story and then read it aloud as part of your celebration.
- Ask students to write an eco-story or fable that teaches others about protecting the environment. You could even have them make puppets and perform their stories!
- Have each child write an essay about what they learned about protecting the environment or conservation on Earth Day ( or April 22nd). Have them present their work to the class at the end of the day or month as part of the Earth Day celebration.
- Have students create an “Earth Day” paper chain by writing a sentence about why they care about protecting our planet: “I care because…” Then measure out the length of the chain by having each student write a sentence that matches the previous sentence without repeating themselves. Then staple all those sentences together to make a long chain of caring!
How to Encourage Student Opinion Writing
I think it’s important for students to learn how to express their own opinions in writing because it helps them develop critical thinking skills and become more confident writers. Here are some suggestions on how you can do that:
Use Questions
Ask them what they think about a topic, or ask them what they think about a topic you brought up. If you have a favorite poem or song, show it to them and ask them what they think. This gets their brain going and stimulates their thoughts. The more they think about something, the more they want to write about it.
Use Pictures
A picture is worth a thousand words, so use pictures wherever possible – they often help students open up and start writing, and they capture their attention long enough to think creatively about what they see.
Set Up Activities Before You Start Writing
This helps to engage all students in the writing process, not just those who like to write! These activities could be brainstorming, word searches, or crossword puzzles. There are many options, but whatever you choose must be fun.
Writing about Earth Day
Have your older students do some research. They’ll learn a lot about the environment and you’ll have great material for writing lessons.
Here are some websites that can help you:
- National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic?” is an excellent site with lots of information on reducing plastic waste. A good video also introduces you to the problem and how much plastic we consume.
- The World Wildlife Fund’s “Living Planet Report” is another website with lots of information about how humans affect our wildlife and our planet.
Engage Your Students
Once your students have researched something, discuss in class what they found.
Have students choose one thing from their research that they think is important and write about it.
Show students the National Geographic video and discuss what it says about our use of plastic and its impact on the environment.
Have your students write about how we can reduce our plastic use, using what they learned in their research as inspiration for their writing.
Make the Most of It
Earth Day is the annual global event celebrating the Earth and provides an opportunity to raise environmental awareness.
As a teacher, you are in a unique position to show your students how their actions affect the environment by talking to them about this important issue
You can also help them understand how to make positive changes that will benefit themselves and those around them.
The importance of educating our children about environmental issues cannot be overstated. The health of our planet depends on their participation. We must find ways to get them excited about these issues early.
Earth Day lessons can be designed in many different ways, depending on your school’s curriculum and what aspect you want to focus on. Some teachers choose to teach more about recycling, while others focus on deforestation or pollution instead. Whatever you decide, incorporating this topic into your lesson plan will undoubtedly improve student learning by allowing them to discover something new and exciting while also allowing them to learn something new!