Kids will be the keepers of our planet before you know it. This year, there are so many ways in the metro area for your whole family to celebrate Earth Day and show Mama Earth some love around the April 22 holiday.
Discover fun things to do with the family
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For sheer size and variety, you can’t beat the St. Louis Earth Day Festival at the Muny Grounds in Forest Park. It runs from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. on April 20 and 21 and has a tremendous array of food, fun, and learning. Most of the kid-focused activities can be found in the Youth Corner, but there’s plenty sprinkled across the festival. Pet a super-soft alpaca and learn why their wool is so sustainable, “paddle” a canoe on dry land, make a handmade jump rope, rifle through sensory bins to learn about Missouri’s native forest habitats, and much more. There’s a ton of great music, too—Celia’s Sing Along Dance Party is on the main stage Saturday at noon, and older kids will love rocking out to Paige Alyssa and Beth Bombara. Read more about what’s new at the festival here.
There’s so much to do at Little Creek Nature Area in Florissant for their Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 20, from 8 a.m.–noon. The nature area is part of the Ferguson-Florissant School District, so there’s plenty of fun learning for growing minds. For the younger set, there’s face painting and puppet shows. Exploring the pond and the park is informative for everyone, and interacting with barnyard animals and super-cool birds of prey bring the wow factor for kiddos. Open Space STL brings its program “Passport to Clean Water” to the festival, with activities focused on keeping community waterways clean—stewardship starts close to home, after all.
Nature Preserve Foundation Earth Day Event
The Watershed Nature Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, is a great place to get in touch with flora and fauna year round. The center has frog walks and birding, in addition to numerous Earth Day offerings. The 5K & Fun Run on April 20, which starts at 8:30 a.m., is a great way to tour the trails, and prize categories range from 10 and under to over 50. Stick around after the race for a Kids Discovery Day, bird walk, speaker series, native plant sale, and a pet adoption event.
Kids can get up close and personal with a new recycling truck at The Magic House’s Earth Day celebration, from 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. on April 20. Learning how to make compost is messy fun and a habit kids can easily carry forward beyond April. Plant a seed in a planter to take home—water, sunshine, and voila! The children’s museum will host recycled art projects and more. Earth Day activities are included with regular museum admission.
If your family can’t wait a whole year for more Earth Day fun, head for the city of Chesterfield, which holds Earth Day festivities a little later on April 27. From 9–11 a.m. at Central Park, kids can do some planting, and grownups or older kids can enjoy giveaways of native trees, butterfly and pollinator-friendly wildflowers, and compost to get it all off to a good start. The event is BYOB, so be sure to bring your own bag.
Saint Louis Zoo is hosting its annual free Earth Day celebration on April 27, from 10 a.m.–2 p.m., with activities, music, a raffle, and more. The Zoo will also provide opportunities for visitors to learn how they can help keep the planet and its climate healthy.
