Let’s “Chalk” About It!

Create a chalk drawing or illustration to celebrate the environment!
Ages 5-14 / 30
min Activity
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Objectives

  • Create artwork that celebrates and inspires kindness towards the planet 
  • Share artwork to a collaborative Book Creator bookshelf, and explore artifacts submitted by students around the world (located in the “Gallery” tab) 
  • Optionally, connect with another classroom over a live virtual exchange to share artwork and stories with each other

Supporting Research

When students participate in eco-art projects, research shows that this experience helps them form an emotional connection between themselves and the environment, and understand how they can better respect, care for, and guard the world around them. Educators should encourage students to leverage skills around kindness to identify actions that can help protect and restore the environment, and collaboration as a global community working together to keep our planet healthy.

To learn more about these skills, and how they promote students’ healthy growth and the development of empathy, please check out our Empathy Framework.

Materials

  • Art materials (e.g., chalk, paint, markers, crayons, and paper) 
  • ‍Coloring pages (optional)

Activity Partners

Instructions

  1. Engage students in a discussion by asking the following questions: 
    • Can you share about your favorite place in nature? What makes it beautiful or special?
    • What are some reasons that you are grateful for the plants, animals, and other natural resources in our environment? 
    • What is a message that you want to share with others about protecting the planet? 
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  2. Introduce the activity by explaining: “There are so many reasons to be grateful for our environment! Not only does it provide us with air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat, but it also provides a beautiful home for every living creature. Today, we’re going to create artwork that shows our appreciation and gratitude for nature.” 

    Distribute art supplies to students, and provide time for them to create their artwork. For example, students might use:
    • Chalk to create artwork on the sidewalk (tip: make sure the chalk is eco-friendly and non-toxic!) 
    • Paint, crayons, or markers to make illustrations on paper 
    • An online tool (e.g., Canva) to design a digital poster 

    As students work on their artwork, encourage them to include different pictures or symbols, such as: 
    • Their favorite plants and animals 
    • Natural elements like the sun, rainbows, clouds, and the moon 
    • Actions for taking care of the planet, like recycling and planting trees 
    • A message about climate change and pollution 
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  3. After students finish their projects, organize an indoor or outdoor gallery walk so they can explore each other’s artwork! 

    Then, facilitate a reflection by asking the following questions: 
    • What inspired your artwork? Is there a particular aspect of nature or an environmental issue that you feel strongly about? 
    • How did you express gratitude for nature in your artwork? 
    • What impact do you hope your artwork will have on others? 
    • What is something that you liked about someone else’s project? Did you notice anything interesting or surprising? 

If students in both classes have individual devices (e.g., mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc.)...

Use a platform such as Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams which allows you to screen-share during a video call. 
One educator should set up the Kahoot! game and share the code with students in both classes by following this tutorial about using Kahoot! in a remote learning environment, and share their screen so everyone can follow along.

If students in either class don’t have individual devices...

Follow the same instructions above, with one educator starting the game and sharing their screen so both classes can follow along.  
Instead of students joining the game to answer the questions, they can hold up their fingers, call out their answer, or use a paper template to indicate their response.

If you prefer not using Kahoot!...

Use this document (Spanish version) to prompt students.