6 ways to create memorable Earth Day experiences for students

With Earth Day approaching on April 22, 2025, many classrooms around the world will highlight sustainability, environmental awareness, and the importance of caring for our planet. Each year, Earth Day is a chance to engage students in meaningful discussions and hands-on activities that inspire real-world action. Incorporate interactive Earth Day activities from Microsoft Education into your plans to help spark curiosity, creativity, and a commitment to protecting our planet.

From coding challenges to immersive Minecraft Education experiences, there are many ways to bring Earth Day themes to life while helping students develop essential skills. Discover six classroom-ready resources to help you celebrate Earth Day 2025 and make a lasting impact on your students.

1. Dive into data to protect the Earth with Data Explorers

Data Explorers is an action-packed Minecraft Education world that aims to build data science and sustainability skills, created by ReWrite Edu in collaboration with NetApp and World's Largest Lesson. This choose-your-next-path style game takes students across five different ecosystems in search of scientists who help them use data to solve specific environmental problems. Along the way, students can hone their data collection and analysis skills, as well as see how scientists apply data to real-world problems.

At-a-glance:

• Designed for students ages 11-14
• Focused on data collection and analysis skills
• Includes an educator guide for easy implementation

2. Engage in animal adventures with Planet Earth III Worlds

This beautiful lesson collection is the third installment in Minecraft Education and BBC Earth's series of worlds inspired by the groundbreaking series from BBC Studios' Natural History Unit. Students will step into wondrous realms of the natural world to experience the struggles and triumphs of survival while playing as a series of incredible creatures, including the great white shark, the Arctic wolf, the musk ox, and more. They'll explore the way these animals' lives are intertwined by playing as both predator and prey, parent and offspring, friend and ally, and discover the precarious balance of survival.

At-a-glance:

• Designed for students aged 8-13
• Explores the challenges and victories of survival
• Experience beautiful visuals inspired by BBC Studios' Natural History Unit

3. Build eco-themed games with MakeCode Arcade

Microsoft MakeCode is a free, online learn-to-code platform where students can build games, code devices, and mod Minecraft. Support your students' programming skills with MakeCode Arcade by quickly creating and modding retro arcade games with Blocks and JavaScript in the MakeCode editor.

This Earth Day, check out these eco-themed MakeCode Arcade experiences:

• Save the Forest -Engage students in an interactive coding challenge where they help control wildfires. Using block-based coding, students program an air tanker and set up technology to support a ground team working to protect the forest.
• Happy Flower - Teach students about the relationship between flowers and pollinators by coding a digital flower that sends bees back to the hive. This activity introduces basic programming concepts while reinforcing key science connections.
• Shark Splash - Take students on an underwater adventure where they code a shark navigating the deep sea in search of food. This skillmap blends game design and computer science with marine ecology.

4. Foster a sustainable future with FarmBeats for Students

Empower students to explore how technology can drive sustainability with FarmBeats for Students. This hands-on program brings precision agriculture to classrooms, engaging learners in real-world applications of digital sensors, data analysis, and AI. Through interactive activities, students collect and analyze environmental data, build machine learning models, and discover how AI can help optimize farming practices-supporting a future where we can feed a growing population while preserving our planet's resources.

At-a-glance:

• Combines an affordable micro:bit-based hardware kit with free, curated curriculum
• Features interactive activities that engage students in real-world applications of AI
• Focuses on sustainability in agriculture and environmental stewardship

5. Enhance literacy skills with Earth Day reading assignments

Use Reading Progress to seamlessly blend Earth Day topics into your reading lessons while supporting each student's literacy growth. With AI-powered passage generation, you can create customized reading passages on environmental themes in just a few clicks. Simply choose the topic, age level, length, and language-and adjust the complexity as needed to meet your students where they are and deepen their engagement with Earth Day.

You can also use AI-generated comprehension questions based on the passage. Specify how many questions you want, review the questions before assigning them, and easily tailor them to fit your students' learning goals.

At-a-glance:

• Quickly generate Earth Day-themed reading passages with AI-powered passage generation
• Personalize reading passages based on phonics patterns or words students find challenging
• Use AI-generated comprehension questions to check for understanding

6. Design, update, and personalize Earth Day lesson plans

Spark creativity and save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. Whether you're planning an Earth Day lesson, generating engaging content, or creating visuals to bring your teaching to life, Copilot Chat can help-for free.

Need fresh activity ideas or ready-to-use classroom materials? Just ask Copilot Chat! Try these prompts to enhance your Earth Day lessons:

• Create a detailed lesson plan on sustainable farming practices for [grade level]. The lesson should highlight concepts like crop rotation, organic farming, soil conservation, and water management, with real-world examples and student-friendly explanations.
• Generate a list of thought-provoking, open-ended discussion questions for a [grade level] Earth Day lesson. Ensure the questions encourage critical thinking, personal responsibility, and diverse perspectives. They should be designed to spark meaningful conversations about [topic] and connect students' thinking to their role in protecting the planet.
• List a variety of engaging, hands-on eco-centric activities for a [grade level] class to do for Earth Day. Include indoor and outdoor options with a brief description, required materials, estimated time, and how it connects to [a specific topic like environmental awareness, sustainability, or climate action].

Explore the Copilot Chat learning module on Microsoft Learn to discover practical ways to use it in your daily workflow.

Celebrate Earth Day 2025 by bringing sustainability to life in your classroom. These ready-to-use resources are designed to help you engage students and spark meaningful conversations about our planet's future. Empower your students to take action for a greener future-one engaging, interactive lesson at a time.