Great Big Green Week | EYFS & KS1 Activity Ideas

**Note: This page is for educational inspiration and is not officially affiliated with Great Big Green Week. Great Big Green Week is a UK-wide celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. It is organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action on climate change. This annual event takes place over a week and brings together communities, schools, and individuals to hold events and inspire others to get involved. It aims to highlight the amazing work being done across the country and to encourage people to make positive changes for the environment. For official information and details about the event, please visit the website: www.greatbiggreenweek.com.

Saturday 6th - Sunday 14th June 2026

Understanding Great Big Green Week in EYFS & KS1

Let's put on our green hats and become nature's best helpers for Great Big Green Week!🌿💚🌍

For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, this week provides a wonderfully positive and crucial theme for exploring the environment, recycling, plants, animals, conservation, sustainability, and understanding the world (the natural world). It’s about empowering children to feel they have a role in protecting our planet, fostering a love for nature, and teaching simple, practical actions they can take every day. This week offers fantastic planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities & invitations that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about environmental care wonderfully hands-on!

Why Is Learning About the Environment Valuable for Young Children?

Integrating Great Big Green Week and themes of environmental care, sustainability, and climate action into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) is incredibly important for fostering a sense of responsibility, developing practical skills, and building a lifelong connection to nature.

• Fosters Environmental Responsibility: Teaches children that their actions have an impact on the world around them.

• Encourages Practical Action: Provides simple, tangible ways for children to contribute, like recycling or saving water.

• Develops Empathy for Nature: Helps children understand the needs of plants and animals and the importance of protecting them.

• Builds Community: Shows children the power of working together with friends and family to make a positive change.

• Enhances Outdoor Learning: Inspires children to get outside and explore their local environment, from a garden to a park.

• Sparks Hope and Optimism: Focuses on positive actions and solutions, empowering children to feel they can make a difference.

Engaging ‘Green’ Activities for Great Big Green Week (EYFS & KS1)

Let's celebrate Great Big Green Week by exploring the natural world, caring for our environment and discovering how small actions can make a positive difference. These planning ideas, provision enhancements and learning opportunities encourage children to develop curiosity about nature, appreciate living things and begin to understand how we can help look after our planet.

Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by our dedicated ‘The Environment’, ‘Recycling’, ‘Endangered Animals’, ‘Plants’, and ‘Water’ resources.

Here's some inspiration for celebrating Great Big Green Week in your setting. The following ideas may be adapted for various EYFS and KS1 settings. In EYFS, these ideas are best viewed as invitations to explore and enhancements to provision rather than activities every child is expected to complete. Practitioners may choose to follow children's interests and questions about nature, wildlife, recycling and sustainability, using these resources flexibly. In KS1, some ideas may also be used within more structured teaching sequences where appropriate. Printable resources to support the following ideas may be found further down this page.

(Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity or enhancement and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken. Encourage respect for living things, thoughtful use of resources and positive environmental action.)

🌍 Understanding Our Earth & Environment

Great Big Green Week provides opportunities for children to develop a sense of connection with the world around them and begin to understand why caring for the environment matters.

Children might:

• Explore the idea that Earth is our shared home.

• Talk about what makes places healthy and beautiful.

• Notice natural features in their local environment.

• Observe seasonal changes.

• Consider how people and nature are connected.

Resources such as Earth Game, Earth – Our Home! Multimat, and Earth Upper & Lower Case Alphabet Puzzle Game on our ‘The Environment’ page can help support these discussions and explorations.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Create a "What We Love About Our Planet" display.

• Invite children to photograph favourite outdoor spaces.

• Use globes, maps and aerial photographs in provision.

• Explore natural treasures collected on walks.

• Create transient art using leaves, sticks and petals.

• Encourage children to share ideas about caring for their local area.

🌱 Connecting with Nature & Wildlife

Spending time outdoors helps children develop curiosity, observation skills and a sense of wonder about the living world.

Children might:

• Explore plants, flowers and trees.

• Observe birds and insects.

• Investigate habitats.

• Learn what living things need to survive.

• Follow changes in nature over time.

Resources such as our Plants Word Mats, Plants Make Their Own Food Poster, What Does A Houseplant Need?, Gardening – Sunflower Growth Ordering Cards (in our ‘Plants’ topic); Garden Birdwatch Mat, UK Garden Birds Colouring (in our ‘Birds’ topic); and Endless Life Cycle Puzzles (from our ‘Life Cycles’ topic), can help support these investigations.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Plant seeds and monitor growth.

• Create a wildlife observation area.

• Build simple bug hotels.

• Explore local trees and leaves.

• Develop a class nature journal.

• Create bird-feeding stations where appropriate.

♻️ Recycling, Reusing & Reducing Waste

Great Big Green Week offers meaningful opportunities for children to explore how everyday choices can help care for the environment.

Children might:

• Sort recyclable materials.

• Investigate different types of waste.

• Reuse materials creatively.

• Discuss ways to reduce waste.

• Learn how recycling helps wildlife and habitats.

Resources such as the Recycling Centre Dramatic Role Play Pack, Sort Recycling Cards, Recycling Symbol Fine Motor Sheets, Junk Modelling Challenge Sheets, and Recycling Symbol Multimats within our ‘Recycling’ topic can support these learning opportunities.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Create a recycling station in role play.

• Challenge children to build models from recycled materials.

• Sort classroom waste together.

• Investigate packaging from everyday products.

• Design posters encouraging recycling.

• Create recycled art installations.

💧 Water Conservation & Environmental Care

Water provides a valuable context for exploring both science and environmental responsibility.

Children might:

• Discuss where water comes from.

• Explore how people use water every day.

• Investigate floating and sinking.

• Learn why clean water matters.

• Consider simple ways to avoid wasting water.

Resources including Wonderful Water Display, Wonderful Water! We Need Water To..., How Do You Use Water? Sheets, Water Droplet Numbers, Water Drops Counting Puzzles, Test It In The Water Investigation Sheets, and Water Drops Alphabet Puzzle Game within our ‘Water’ topic can help support these experiences.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Create water investigation stations.

• Compare natural and man-made water sources.

• Explore water collection outdoors.

• Discuss saving water during daily routines.

• Observe rainfall and weather patterns.

• Create simple water-themed STEM challenges.

🐘 Protecting Wildlife & Endangered Animals

Children often show great empathy towards animals and can begin to understand why some species need protection.

Children might:

• Learn about animals from around the world.

• Explore different habitats.

• Discuss what animals need to survive.

• Discover why some animals are endangered.

• Consider simple ways people can help wildlife.

Resources from our Endangered Animal Packs such those for: Barn Owl, Bat, Black Rhino, Bumblebee, Chimpanzee, Elephant, Gorilla, Lion, Orangutan, Sea Lion, Sea Turtle, Tiger, Vaquita, and Whale Shark can support these discussions.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Create an endangered animals investigation area.

• Match animals to habitats.

• Compare local wildlife with animals from around the world.

• Explore animal footprints and features.

• Create animal fact books.

• Discuss positive actions that help wildlife.

🎨 Creative Exploration & Outdoor Learning

Environmental themes provide rich inspiration for creativity, problem solving and sensory exploration.

Children might:

• Create artwork inspired by nature.

• Explore natural materials.

• Build environmental models.

• Develop outdoor STEM projects.

• Use natural objects for mark making and design.

Resources such as Beach Mindfulness Scavenger Hunts, Beach Design A Shell Multimats, Beach Mark Making Cards (within our ‘Beach School’ theme); Finger-Paint Autumn Leaves (in ‘Autumn’); STEM Challenge Cards (on our ‘STEM’ page); and Green Fingers Certificates (in ‘Gardening’), can help support these experiences.

Additional Provision Enhancements

• Create nature collages.

• Explore natural pigments and colours.

• Build dens using natural materials.

• Design miniature wildlife habitats.

• Create outdoor transient art.

• Develop environmental-themed small world play.

🔍 Explore More

To support your Great Big Green Week learning and encourage deeper exploration of sustainability, wildlife and environmental care, you may wish to explore our resources linked to:

The Environment • Recycling • Water • Plants • Endangered Animals

You may also enjoy exploring related themes such as:

Beach School • Forest School • Gardening • Habitats • Ocean • Polar • Wetlands • Wildlife • Woodland (Temperate)

These ideas and provision enhancements offer meaningful ways to celebrate Great Big Green Week in EYFS and KS1 settings. By encouraging children to notice, appreciate and care for the world around them, practitioners can help nurture environmental awareness, responsible citizenship and a lifelong connection with nature. 🌍🌱♻️🐝

To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.

Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘Great Big Green Week’

Free ‘Environment’ related EYFS & KS1 activities, including ‘Recycling’, ‘Animals’, ‘Plants’ & ‘Endangered Animals’:

‘Recycling’ EYFS & KS1 activities:

(Find more resources on this theme on our dedicated ‘Recycling’ topic page.)

‘Endangered Animals’ EYFS & KS1 activity packs:

(Find more resources on this theme on our dedicated ‘Endangered Animals’ topic page.)

Learning about the ‘Earth’ EYFS & KS1 activities:

‘Wonderful Water’ EYFS & KS1 printable resources:

(Find more activities on this theme on our dedicated ‘Water’ topic page.)

Additional Pages you may like to explore which cover relevant &/or Connected themes

Explore a wide variety of themes which help our children learn about and appreciate animal and plant life.

More Early Years Event Pages for June

Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children

Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!

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Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'Great Big Green Week'. We are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by The Climate Coalition, which organises this annual event. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this event. For official information and details, please visit The Climate Coalition website: www.thegreatbiggreenweek.com.