Nifty Fifty Activities

1. Become energy waste detectives by using our citizen’s guide to reducing energy waste. 

2. Make a challenge to keep unused lights off in your house.

3. Make your own wind turbine and learn about the power of offshore wind.

4. Make your own solar oven from a pizza box and find out how using solar power could make your community healthier and cleaner.

5. Calculate your family’s carbon footprint.

6. Make videos in support of moving our country to 100% renewable energy. Post the video and tag your elected officials on social media.

7. Learn about the impact of transportation on our climate. Make a plan for how to incorporate more walking, biking and public transit into your family’s daily life.

8. Watch The Story of Stuff and clean out your junk and look for treasures.

9. Measure your weekly trash output. Make a plan to reduce your family’s waste by 25% by the time school starts.

10. Make a pledge to reduce your plastic use and create an online challenge with your friends.

11. Reduce food waste by reorganizing your fridge.

12. Make a compost bin for your kitchen.

13. Make your own reusable bag from old t-shirts.

14. Make your own produce bag for fruits and vegetables.

15. Make reusable food wraps from beeswax.

16. Try to repair something — whether a toy, gadget or a picture frame, there are instructions to fix anything on YouTube. Discuss how repair cuts waste while you fix your item. 

17. Make art out of your trash and then have an art show at home.

18. Make crafts out of plastic bottles.

19. Upcycle styrofoam with these craft ideas.

20. Add your name to a petition encouraging our elected leaders and corporations to take action to put wildlife over waste.

21. Learn about the earth, trees, and plants.

22. Learn about the rainforest and then make a terrarium.

23. Make leaf rubbings on paper.

24. Create a self portrait out of leaves, sticks, and other foraged materials.

25. Learn how to plant a garden outdoors. Get your own bee friendly garden kit from Environment America.

26. Or start an indoor container garden.

27. Make plantable seed paper from old paper scraps.

28. Make seed bombs to help bees and other pollinators.

29. Play a game about where your food comes from

30. Research waterways in your community and make a map of local rivers, lakes and streams. 

31. Learn about water pollution through these activities.

32. Take a virtual tour of our parks, such as Yellowstone National Park!

33. Take a virtual dive in the Florida Keys or one of our other marine sanctuaries. 

34. Learn about glaciers and write a story or draw a picture about them.

35. Learn about healthy soils. 

36. Take action to protect our public lands.

37. Learn about how animals camouflage themselves. Play hide and seek inside based on what you learn!

38. Learn about birding.

39. Make a bird feeder out of an apple, peanut butter and birdseed.

40. Turn a milk or juice carton into a bird feeder.

41. Build an insect hotel.

42. Read the book Myrtle the Turtle and discuss the impacts of plastic waste on our planet.

43. Make a mason bee home.

44. Make up a song about protecting animals in your hometown from pollution.

45. Draw pictures of your favorite animals that need greater protections, such as bees, sea turtles and orcas. Post the pictures to social media and tag your elected officials.

46. Create an environmental scavenger hunt. Adapt it to your own home or backyard.

47. Write a letter to your school district asking them to adopt electric school buses.

48. Go for a hike and teach your children about park trail stewardship.

49. Download the Wow in the World kids podcast and discuss the topics after each episode.

50. Organize a family litter patrol. Get gloves and/or pick-up tools and pick up trash if you go on walks at a nearby park.