Earth Day Heart Painting

Today I'm sharing an Earth Day craft that's beautiful and fun to create. It's simple enough to do with kindergarteners and up. This craft also provides a perfect opportunity to talk about reusing goods and finding ways to re-purpose something rather than toss it in the trash to end up in the landfill! When they're all done, you'll have a beautiful piece of meaningful art to decorate your home or classroom! I love that each one of these Earth Day Heart Paintings is unique and personalized by the kids, from the page they use to the prints of their little hands.

Supplies:

Tempura paint in black, green, and blue

Paintbrushes

Reusable paper (Old Plant Encyclopedia, Herbology Book, Textbooks, etc.)

Construction paper in blue, green, or black

Cleaning station

Glue sticks

Step 1 - Paint the Recycled Paper

Each student will need their own page of the recycled paper. I picked up an old plant encyclopedia from the Goodwill for $3 and cut out a variety of pages for students to pick from. 

To get the right shape, I recommend having students "practice" placing their hands without paint first. Start by touching the tips of your thumbs, then the tips of your pointer fingers to make a heart shape. 

Step 2 - Allow To Dry & Mount (Optional for Older Students)

We painted our hearts before lunch and came back to finish them later in the day so the black would be completely dry. If your students are older you could possible skip this step. To save time, we also mounted them on construction paper before painting a second time.

Step 3 - Paint The Earth

Invite your students to paint the heart shape between their hand prints with blue and green paint.

As we did this, we talked about why we should love and care for the Earth. Here are a few of their sweet answers:

"The Earth is where our families live."

"Because if we hurt the Earth, we can't just live on another one."

"All the animals live on the Earth."

"Because people don't want to live with garbage everywhere."

Step 4 - Display

We chose to hang our classroom paintings in the hallways to share with the rest of our school.