Hands-on learning invites students to discover the world by engaging with it directly — something our brains are geared towards on a profound level. Think back over your time in school: what do you remember best? Building something, cooking something, taking something apart, planting something, pouring one substance into another… in short, getting your hands dirty.
Why not harness this powerful way of learning to teach students about one of the most pressing issues of today: climate change? A well-chosen hands-on lesson can liven up class time, engage your students, and help them understand the subject matter more deeply — plus, it's likely to be fun. Building climate literacy takes work, but we're here to help. Start with these seven climate change hands-on activities.
Showing 7 of 7 activities
Climate Change Inquiry Lab
Bring climate science to life with accessible, tangible representations of our warming planet. This middle school science lesson plan from My NASA Data uses three different experiments to illustrate three linked elements of climate change: students use plastic wrap to trap heat in a container (how greenhouse gases trap heat), ice cubes in cylinders of water (how melting ice impacts sea level rise), and foil partially covering water (how sea ice keeps oceans cooler by reflecting the sun's rays). A great way to help middle schoolers visualize the science behind global warming.
Footprint Calculator
Help make your students' individual impacts on the planet more concrete with this carbon footprint calculator from BioInteractive. Students identify which human activities produce the most emissions, then brainstorm ways to reduce their carbon footprints — spanning science, social studies, chemistry, biology, economics, geography, math, justice, and climate action.
Art and Climate Action — Climate Heroes Unit
This engaging SubjectToClimate high school unit plan consists of three well-designed hands-on lessons that combine art and climate activism. Students investigate how artists use their platforms to spread awareness about the causes of climate change, discover what young people around the globe are doing to address it, and use what they learn to create portraits of youth climate heroes.
How can art and artists change society? What is the role of art in addressing climate change?
Explore slides of artists addressing climate change through their art.
Reflect and write about how art can raise awareness about climate change.
Snack-Sized Science: Plant Your Paper!
Get kids excited about reusing, recycling, and all-around resourcefulness with this plantable paper DIY from EarthEcho Academy. In a straightforward and adorable video, a mother-daughter duo shows how to recycle paper using ordinary household materials. The end result can be used for writing or drawing — or starting a garden! Elementary students will be proud to take home papers they made themselves.
Take It to the Forest
Why do we breathe hard when we exercise? What is the carbon cycle? How are trees related to air quality? Students answer these questions through this movement-based SubjectToClimate lesson plan. After monitoring resting heart rate and breathing, students exercise for three minutes, check how their bodies changed, then play "Take It to the Forest" — a fun, active game teaching the carbon cycle and the role trees play in absorbing carbon dioxide. The lesson ends with a "stretch and chat" about keeping the air healthy.
Warm up and wonder: "Why am I breathing so hard?"
Play a game about exercise, the carbon cycle, and climate change.
Discuss ways to help address climate change, such as planting trees.
Climate Strike and Art Activism
What better way to engage deeply with climate issues than by joining the fight for climate solutions? This guide from ACE helps students in grades 6 and up create protest signs advocating for change. Designed with the 2019 Climate Strike in mind, it's easily adaptable to other actions — a powerful blend of creativity and civic engagement.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Even though most students encounter plants every day, they may not realize how important plants are to their communities. In this SubjectToClimate lesson, students identify what plants need to grow and the benefits plants provide. They'll get their hands dirty repurposing everyday objects into planters to make their own classroom garden — practicing measurement skills by monitoring and measuring how much their plants grow.
Explore a square foot of the schoolyard: what lives and grows there?
Watch a video on what plants need and read how gardening transforms communities.
Create a classroom garden and predict and measure plant growth.
How To Use This Guide
Start with your grade band
Use the filter above to show only the activities that fit your students — no more scrolling past lessons meant for other ages.
Pick one, not all seven
Each activity stands alone. Choose the one that matches your current unit, the time you have, and the materials on hand.
Standards-aligned and ready
Every resource is teacher-reviewed and scientist-approved, so you can bring it into your classroom with confidence.
Share with your team
Pass this guide along to colleagues — many of these activities work across grade levels, subjects, and classrooms.
Direct engagement with climate change and climate solutions can begin in the classroom. These activities invite your students to become active learners — helping them understand global warming more fully and develop the tools to address it. After all, to fight the climate crisis, we'll all need to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty.