We started with a bit of discussion and collecting our prior knowledge of the earth. 
We have been discussing spring and life a lot anyway, so Earth seemed to fit right in. We talked about how the earth takes care of us (plants, food, water--it was a bit baffling to my tinies that swimming was not the main purpose for water--and animals).
We then discussed why it was also important for us to take care of the earth in return.
To celebrate earth day, I thought of the most earthy item I could think of--the earth worm.
As the April showers have been rolling in with fairly consistent patterns, it is not rare for us to see quite a few wiggly earth worms on our stroll to the playground.
All the tinies usually squat down and stare and fight for a front row spot to observe the little guys. I always encourage them, "look with your eyes!" So that no one steps on or squishes it.
Earth day seemed like a great time to explore earth worms. So, with a little brown paint, some sensory gummy worms, a little memory and imagination, we made earth worm paintings.
First, I had the tinies copy down the word "WORM" in a green marker. Then, they got to grab a gummy worm, run him through the "mud," or brown paint, and wiggle and squirm all over their papers.
We also used vocabulary to describe what the worms felt like. Slippery, bumpy, slimy, gooey, disgusting, wet, weird! They compared the gummy worms to real worms they have observed. We discussed how worms move through dirt and let oxygen into the soil to help plants grow.
The next day, we created spring flowers with coffee filters and added a worm to our picture to remember how they help the plants!
They really had a lot of fun! We will be covering earth throughout the week, and next week will be space week, so our knowledge of earth as a planet will continue to grow!
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