Spanish Words and Phrases for Earth Day + DIY

Taking care of the world we live in is extremely important. The first way we can help our earth is by teaching our children to take care of it. After all, we’re leaving this world to them and they’re the future. Every day is perfect to do this.

But Earth Day is especially great to teach them about our planet and how to care for it. We’re sure you know this. But did you know that while learning about the Earth, they can also improve their Spanish skills?

Really, it’s true! You can combine both topics, as both are super fun to learn about and together it’ll be a richer experience for kids. On this blog, we’ll teach some Spanish words and phrases for Earth Day, so kids can use them.

42 Important Spanish Words about Earth Day

1. Earth Day – Día de la tierra
2. Ecology – Ecología
3. Ecological – Ecológico
4. April – Abril
5. Earth – Tierra
6. Planet – Planeta
7. Plants – Plantas
8. Flowers – Flores
9. Tree – Árbol
10. Habitat – Hábitat
11. Plant – Plantar
12. Climate change – Cambio climático
13. Pollution – Contaminación
14. Garbage – Basura
15. Trash can – Bote de basura
16. Waste – Desechos / Residuos
17. Organic waste – Basura orgánica / Residuos orgánicos
18. Inorganic waste – Basura inorgánica / Residuos inorgánicos
19. Plastic – Plástico
20. Metal – Metal
21. Glass – Vidrio
22. Cardboard – Cartón
23. Water – Agua
24. Sun – Sol
25. Sky – Cielo
26. Océano – Ocean
27. Animals – Animales
28. Weather – Clima
29. Toxic – Tóxico
30. Nature – Naturaleza
31. Atmosphere – Atmósfera
32. Ecosystem – Ecosistema
33. Ozone layer – Capa de ozono
34. Global warming – Calentamiento global
35. Biodegradable – Biodegradable
36. Biodiversity – Biodiversidad
37. Vegetable patch – Huerto
38. Heat – Calor
39. Green – Verde
40. Blue – Azul
41. Brown – Café
42. To protect – Proteger

The Three Rs in Spanish

All children learn about the three Rs in school. Because it’s the perfect topic to start teaching the younger ones how to take care of the planet. This is no exception to Spanish speaking kids; they also learn this topic in school. In Spanish it’s called “Las tres R”. Here they’re all in Spanish:

1. Reduce – Reducir
2. Reuse – Reutilizar
3. Recycle – Reciclar

Spanish Phrases for Earth Day

The best way to improve your kids’ Spanish skills is for them to speak the language. That’s why we’ve gathered some phrases (and questions) your kids might use to express their feelings, ideas and doubts during this day.

You’ll notice we used the vocabulary above, so they can start practicing it. They can use these to talk to parents, teachers, and friends.

1. My favorite festivity is Earth Day because we celebrate our planet. / Mi festividad favorita es el Día de la Tierra, porque celebramos nuestro planeta.
2. Happy Earth Day! / ¡Feliz Día de la Tierra!
3. The Earth is my home. / La Tierra es mi hogar.
4. Let’s plant a tree for Earth Day! / ¡Vamos a plantar un árbol por el Día de la Tierra!
5. It makes me sad that there’s so much pollution. / Me entristece que haya tanta contaminación.
6. April 22 is the Day of the Earth. / El veintidós de abril es el Día de la Tierra.
7. Today we learned about the three Rs in class. / Hoy aprendimos sobre las tres R en clase.
8. Guess what? Our teacher taught us how to reuse plastic bottles. / ¿Adivina qué? Nuestro/Nuestra maestro/maestra nos enseñó a reutilizar botellas de plástico.
9. I love planet Earth because it’s blue and green. / Amo el planeta Tierra, porque es azul y verde.
10. Mommy, what is organic waste? / Mami, ¿qué es la basura orgánica?
11. My dad told me we should not throw the trash on the streets; it’s bad for our planet. / Mi papá me dijo que no hay que tirar la basura en la calle, es malo para nuestro planeta.

Spanish Questions to Interest Your Kids on the Earth Day

Do you want to engage your kids in Spanish conversations about Earth Day and everything related to it? Awesome! Oh, you don’t know how? That’s okay. It’s easier if you’re the first one to ask them questions or give them ideas about what to do on this day.

Take the first step and they’ll follow. To help you, we leave you some questions (and phrases) in Spanish to spark their interest in this topic.

1. What do you like the most about our planet Earth? / ¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de nuestro planeta Tierra?
2. What if we go to the beach and pick up some garbage to help clean it? / ¿Y si vamos a la playa y recogemos basura para ayudar a limpiarla?
3. Come help me plant some flowers, please. / Ven a ayudarme a plantar algunas flores, por favor.
4. My favorite planet is Earth, because there are many beautiful animals, which one is yours? / Mi planeta favorito es la Tierra porque hay muchos animales bonitos, ¿cuál es el tuyo?
5. What are you going to do at school for Earth Day? / ¿Qué van a hacer en la escuela por el Día de la Tierra?
6. What’s your favorite wild animal? Mine is the lion. / ¿Cuál es tu animal salvaje favorito? El mío es el león.
7. I’m going to teach you how to recycle; you’ll see it’s very cool! / Te voy a enseñar a reciclar, ¡vas a ver que es genial!
8. Do you want to make a pencil case of recycled material? Let’s do it together! / ¿Quieres hacer un estuche de material reciclado?
9. Do you know what’s global warming? / ¿Sabes qué es el calentamiento global?
10. What’s your favorite thing about nature? / ¿Cuál es tu cosa favorita de la naturaleza?

How to Help Your Kids Learn Spanish Vocabulary for Earth Day

Long vocabulary lists are out

We just gave you a list with important words and phrases related to Earth Day. You must definitely help your kids learn those words. But oftentimes they get bored and will forget the words if you make them memorize it one by one just from a very long list.

First off, divide the list. It can be in word groups of 5 or 10. So the list feels shorter. Teach them those 5 or 10 words first and practice them daily. Once you feel like they’ve truly learned them, then go to the next group of words.

You should also start with the easiest ones, like Earth Day or tree; not with ozone layer or biodegradable, which are more difficult.

You should also strive for them to learn through activities or by speaking those words in context, like a story. And not through memorizing lists. That way it’s more fun for the kids and it makes them acquire the language in a natural way.

Plant a vegetable patch with them

Doing ecological projects with them is the most fun! Both of you will learn lots and enjoy it. Plus, it’s a great time for bonding with your kids. What’s something many kids love? Flowers, plants and playing with earth! So, why not make a small, homemade vegetable patch?

While you build it make sure to speak in Spanish and encourage them to do the same. If they’re not very fluent yet, you can just make them say certain Spanish words out loud.

For example: When you’re about to plant the carrots ask them for the Spanish name of it. We have a veggies in Spanish blog that you can consult for this. Or ask them to tell you the Spanish word for earth.

Go outside

The coolest thing you could do to help kids learn Earth Day vocabulary is to immerse them in the things Earth has to offer. So, go outside! Getting out of the house to be in touch with nature or go somewhere fun is very interesting for kids.

You can just take a walk in a park or a place full of nature. While you do that, ask children to describe the place in Spanish. This way they’ll have to use the words and phrases above.

You could also ask them customized questions. For example: ¿Cómo se llama eso de allá? (How is that thing over there called?) Or ¿cuál es tu cosa favorita de este parque? (What’s your favorite thing about this park?) Or “¿de qué color son los árboles? (What color are the trees?)

If you want to make it more fascinating, go beyond the parks. Maybe like a farm, the beach or somewhere to camp. You’ll have more options of questions to ask. And kids will have the chance to use other words in Spanish they might not use when they only go near their own houses.

For example: Ask ¿cuál es el color del mar? (¿What’s the color of the sea?) You could also ask about the animals the kids are seeing there. For example: ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito que hemos visto hoy? (¿What’s your favorite animal we’ve seen today?)

It’s all about engaging kids in a Spanish conversation while safely exploring the world they live in.

DIY: Make a Pencil Holder Out of Recycled Materials

Let’s learn how to make a pencil holder for your kids by reusing materials, so we decrease our waste. Children will learn about reusing things, that it is very cool to be ecological, and that you can make truly useful things out of recycled materials.

What you’ll need:

• Plastic bottle or can – Botella de plástico o lata
• Recycled colorful sheets of paper or craft foam – Hojas de papel de colores recicladas o fomi / foamy / goma eva
• Scissors – Tijeras
• Cardboard (it can be from a cereal box, a shoe box, an old package, or from anything you can reuse) – Cartón (puede ser de una caja de cereal, una caja de zapatos, un paquete viejo o de cualquier cosa que puedas reusar)
• Stickers, glitter, or anything you want to decorate – Estampas / pegatinas, brillantina / purpurina / diamantina, o cualquier cosa que quieras para decorar
• Crayons – Crayones

Steps:

1. Wash carefully the plastic bottle or the can, whichever you choose to use. Then dry them with a cloth.
2. If you chose the plastic bottle, grab it and cut it halfway with a pocketknife. Be careful.
3. Grab one of your recycled sheets of paper or the craft foam of the color that your kids prefer. Cut it according to the measurements of the bottle or can, so it covers the whole bottle or can. If you don’t know the exact measurements, just grab your bottle or can, cover it with glue, and wrap it with the paper. Then just cut the excess of paper or foam. You might find that there’s a lot of excess paper on top of the bottle or can. You can just cut fringes on that excess of paper. Then glue them into the bottle or can, so those fringes won’t be visible.*
4. Now that you’ve covered the whole bottle or can, it’s time to decorate it. Grab your piece of cardboard and give it to your kids, so they draw on it whatever they want to put on their pen holder. It can be stars, butterflies, flowers, cars… Anything you can imagine!
5. Color the drawings, so it looks fun and not like old cardboard.
6. Cut the drawings.
7. Glue the drawings all over the bottle or can.
8. Add stickers, glitter or anything you want.

*Now, if you prefer a cutest design, we recommend you make a penguin (in Spanish: “pingüino”) pencil holder. Here’s how:

• 3.1. The sheet of paper or craft foam you grab should be black. Cover the bottle or can with it like we told you above in step 3.
• 4.1. Instead of random drawings on the cardboard, kids will draw the belly of the penguin and color it white.
• 4.2. Then, they’ll draw two small circles, which will be the eyes. This should be white with a small blue circle inside of each eye.
• 4.3. Then make sure they draw the beak; this one should be orange.
• 4.4. Now draw two small curves and color them orange. These will be the penguin’s feet.
• 4.5. Glue everything on the bottle or can, so it makes the form of a penguin. First the belly, which will cover most of the can. Then, the eyes, which can be on top of the belly or even inside the belly but on the top part of it. Then, the beak, which should go below the eyes and in the middle of them. Finally, glue the feet, which will go inside the belly but on the bottom part of it; one foot next to the other.

Your penguin pencil holder is ready and looking cuter than ever!

But wait! You can also transform it into a pencil case if you chose to use a water bottle. For this case, besides the other things we told you above, you’ll also need two bottles and a zipper.

1. When you’re cutting the first bottle, cut it to the length of the pens and pencils you’re going to put in there. So they have to completely fit in the cut bottle.
2. Cut the second bottle closer to its bottom; this will work as the cap of the first bottle.
3. Now glue the bottom side of the zipper’s fabric all around the top edge of the first bottle.
4. Grab the bottom part of the second bottle. Open the zipper and glue the top side of it to the edge of this bottle’s part.
5. Fill the bottle with your pens and pencils. Now close the zipper. You’re ready to decorate your new pencil case!

TruFluency Kids Helps Your Children’s Spanish Skills Blossom

There are many more things about our world, its ecosystems, and Earth Day, your kids should learn. And here at TruFluency Kids we can still help them do that while learning more Spanish. For example, with our animals in Spanish or our veggies in Spanish blogs.

But our commitment to your kids’ Spanish learning journey doesn’t stop there. Our blogs are just the tip of the iceberg. We also offer Spanish immersion classes with native teachers!

They focus on teaching all areas of the language (speaking, listening, reading, writing) through different topics. So, while we still teach you about the earth, we’ll also see other themes. This means that with us your children will learn useful things for a real-life situation, while training their ears for the accent.

Immersion means the whole learning environment will be in Spanish; we barely use English. We also try to teach through fun activities, so your kids won’t be bored and will acquire the Spanish more naturally. We’ll sing, cook, play and do crafts in Spanish!

Now, let us tell you about our Bellieu Method in which we base our lessons. It consists of encouraging students to speak using all they’ve learned. So they can achieve Spanish fluency. After all, full communication is our main goal.

Drop in one of our classes and check us out! The class is live with a native teacher. After it, you’ll get the opportunity to be on a Q & A for parents to answer your questions.

You’ll see we’re ready to teach your kids how to grow their Spanish skills. So they can bloom into Spanish experts.