Earth Day STEM Art Globe

Earth Day takes place annually on the 22nd April and was first held in 1970. Each year has a different theme and there are different events co-ordinated in over 193 countries. You too may be looking to support this event with the children doing fun Earth Day arts and crafts to introduce discussion about Earth Day and the importance of looking after our planet. 

Earthday.org are working tirelessly to put an end to single use plastics, demanding a 60% reduction by 2040. They are also calling for an end to fast fashion. 

As part of your own contributions to Earth Day you may want to look at small things you can do with the children that together go on to make a big impact. Things such as - doing a litter pick, planting flowers for the pollinators, planting trees, recycling, making bird feeders. Why not ask the children what they would like to do to help keep our planet healthy?

Today I want to share with you a craft that went down a storm - STEM art Globes.

For this activity you will need - 

A tray

Recycled Cardboard

Eco Friendly Cotton Wool

PVA Glue

Water

Ready Mixed Childrens Paint

Paint Brushes

Take your cardboard and trace around a circular object. I used a circular tin. Cut out your circle and cover in PVA Glue. Take some cotton wool and pull apart slightly and stick down into the PVA glue. You want a really good covering so be generous. 

Make sure you are selecting sustainable and biodegradable cotton wool such as Simply Gentle. Not all cotton wool is planet friendly so it's important we are selecting better alternatives. 

This could be another point of discussion with the children. 

Take two jars/containers - I love using washed our baby food glass jars. They are perfect for these types of activities as you can see the liquid well. Add ready mixed paint to some water and give it a really good mix with a paint brush. I used a lovely sky blue colour for the oceans and a green for the land. 

Place your covered globe into a tray to catch any spillages. I always get asked where we get our trays from. They are drink serving trays that we have picked up in places such as Home Bargains or Home Sense.

There were two options available to colour the cotton wool - transferring the coloured water across using paint brushes or the jumbo eye droppers which are available to purchase directly from our small family run business. The children really enjoy using these and they have been specially designed for small hands. 

Children can explore cause and effect as they operate the pipettes and observe as they suck up the coloured water and squirt it out again. You'll find some children will prefer one technique over another so it's always good fun to offer a couple of alternatives where possible so they can explore different ways of doing things.