Disclosure: I received the books in this post free for my honest review. All opinions are my own and may differ from yours. This post may contain affiliate links for which I may receive compensation if you make a purchase.
No matter how young your children are, you can teach them about taking care of the earth. Most kids love animals, so an easy way to teach them why we need to take care of the earth is to talk about animals. Animals rely on us to care for the earth, so talking about your child’s favorite animals is a great way to teach them about Earth Day.
About Earth Day
The first Earth Day was in 1970 on April 22. I had no idea it had been around for so long! I was born that year, and I sure don’t remember celebrating it in school. As more information has become available about how certain things harm or help our environment, more attention surrounds Earth Day. Schools and teachers have a lot of resources available to use for Earth Day. But if you have a child that is not yet in school, you can still talk about how to help the earth and the animals by using fun books they will love.
Up, Up, Up in the Tree by Maxime Lebrun
Join Squirrel as he climbs higher and higher up a tree in his quest for one big surprise! With flaps to lift and peek-through holes, there’s lots to spot, count, and discover along the way.
This is such a cute book that teaches children about all of the animals that live in an oak tree. By talking to your little one about the animals that live in the tree, you can talk to them about why it is important for us to plant and care for trees. Talk about how the trees not only provide homes for animals, they also provide clean air. Though your child may not understand how it all works, just talking about how trees are important is a great way to share Earth Day with him.
Search and Find Animals by Libby Walden
Can you find a pair of birds playing badminton, a gibbon with a ribbon, and a starfish shining in the spotlight? In Search and Find: Animals, young children are prompted to search six busy foldout scenes to find the illustrations highlighted on the large flaps. Each colorful spread features 20 things to find, plus additional amusing animals on a farm, in the Arctic, under a jungle canopy, beneath the waves, across the savannah, and in the nighttime woods. As readers explore the pages and find the animals, they will encounter other creatures scampering about—so parents can help children identify and learn the names of even more animal.
This is another really cute book for you to teach your child about caring for the earth. It is an easy introduction to animals and the habitats in which they live. By talking about these habitats, you can talk to your child about how important it is to care for these habitats. Since Earth Day is focusing on the climate this year, you could talk to your little one about how different animals live in different climates. These climates can change if we don’t take care of the earth.
On Duck Pond by Jane Yolen and Bob Marstall
In On Bird Hill, Yolen and Marstall took readers on a surreal journey with a boy and his dog, as they stopped, looked, and noticed things along their path—ultimately discovering the miracle of the birth of a baby bird. On Duck Pond continues the journey of the boy and dog story, this time in a new place—a serene pond, filled with birds, frogs, turtles and other creatures going about their quiet business. Their intrusion stirs the pond into a cacophony of activity, reaching climactic chaos, before slowly settling back to it’s quiet equilibrium.
I always loved studying ponds when I was in school, and no matter how young your child is, they are bound to love ducks. Feeding the ducks was always one of my own kids’ favorite things to do when we visited The Wilderness Center. If you’ve got someplace where your child can feed the ducks (legally, please!), take him or her out on Earth Day to celebrate.
On Duck Pond is filled with such beautiful illustrations. The back of the book contains a guide of the ducks, birds, and other animals in On Duck Pond, so your child can go back through the book and find them. This book is great for Earth Day because you can talk about how change, in this case the ducks, can throw off a whole ecosystem….even though this is just a temporary change.
How are you going to celebrate Earth Day? Be sure to check out these books and the toolkits available from Earth Day Network, and find a fun way to get involved.
Always nice to remember earth day but honestly we should remember the earth everyday and how we treat and leave our footprint on the earth. I remember the year 1970 I was only 10 years old. Yep that makes me old.
LOL I hate having to scroll so far for my birth year now! I agree that we should care for the earth everyday.
I think it’s so important to teach our kids to take care of the earth. All of these books look like fun ways to reinforce ways to care for the earth. One Duck Pond looks like a great read for kids.
I love books like these because they’re so simple yet have so much info packed into them!
I love reading and love to see books that children will enjoy and learn from . Earth Day is important for children to learn about and these books are just right.
I love children’s books so much. They can share a message without being preachy!
I was planning on celebrating Earth Day by watching Planet Earth. It is an amazing show to watch about our gorgeous planet!
Yes! I’ve seen part of Planet Earth.
You were trying to think of ways to celebrate Earth Day. This would be a great way to start the day out or end the day. We both love to read a lot.
Kids books are great!
Super cute! You’ve got some great picks here, not only will these help your littles celebrate Earth Day, but reading with your children is a great way to get them interested early on.
I agree! Kids love to be read to.
I love the idea of being able to share all about earth day with kids and these sound like some great wyas to help with that!
They really are perfect for it!
Reading these books would be the perfect way to celebrate earth day with my granddaughter. She would especially love the search and find one.
Search and find books are so much fun!
These look like beautiful books for kids on earth day. I especially love the illustrations on the Duck book. They are very beautiful.
I agree! It is a beautiful book!
I’m not really sure how we are gong to celebrate Earth Day. My girls are all in love with nature and every animal, so i am sure we will figure something fun and creative to do to honor Mother Earth. Those books look like great ones.
Oh that is so sweet!
There are so many amazing books about animals that can help children learn about Earth Day! You’ve picked out some great ones!
Thanks! I love it when books make it fun for kids to learn about the earth.
Books are always a good source of knowledge for everyone especially to kids. I like celebrating Earth day. it involves outdoor fun and planting trees.
Yes, books are the best!
What wonderful books. My son loves to read more than anything.
That’s great! Reading is so important!
I love the idea of bring the kids to feed the ducks. When we were little my grandfather would bring us to a near by lake to watch and feed the ducks. For Earth day I have been cleaning my yard and caring for the tulips that are going up. Thanks for sharing the awesome idea.
Yes, feeding the ducks was so much fun!
These all look like great kids books about Earth Day!!! I need to check out some of these for my nieces and nephews!!
They’d love them!
There are so many ways we can take care of our environment. It is a fact that not everyone does their part but if every one in the family will do just one small thing for the earth, then we could at least reduce the damage. For my family, we plant a seedling. One for each member of the family. That is 7 tree seedlings every year that we plant in eco-parks and near the river banks. These books are great to make the young ones learn about the environment. When they get older, they get to come with us to plant their own tree seedlings too.
That is such a great idea for your family! I love that you plant them every year.
I’m getting these books for my little niece Daniella. She is going to love it and I am sure she’ll be bugging her older sisters to read the book to her.
Aww, she will love them!
These all look like great books for children to learn more about the environment and about how important it is for us to take care of it. Will have to check these out!
Definitely! They’re great for kids.