Classroom Activities

Here you can find suggested Earth science related activities. Most are categorized based on the Next Generation Science Standards, and the earlier National Science Education Standards. Activities are also marked with an appropriate grade level. These Earth science activities are fun and educational. To access these activities, click on the activity name in the chart below.

Find additional activities in our Earth Science Week Activity Calendar and Teacher Learning Activity Manuals.

Helpful search tips: • Don't use quotation marks. • Use the Control key to select more than one grade level or tag below. • Want to search by Next Generation Science Standards? Click here.

Titlesort ascending Grade Level Tags
Your Own Greenhouse 3-5 activity, climate, weather
Your Own El Nino 8-10 activity, weather
Why Settle at Mesa Verde activity, maps, climate, natural resources, rocks, water
Where Growth Meets Growth 5-12 activity, minerals, materials, energy, natural resources
What’s In A Name? 6-10
What-a-Cycle 4-12 activity, water, atmosphere, evaporation
What's Under My Feet? Learning to Use a Geologic Map activity, maps, rocks, minerals, geology, geologic map
What's Down There? 6-12 activity, seed
What Will Survive? 6-10 activity, archaeology, organic, inorganic, environment, biosphere, geosphere, Earth systems
What Lies Beneath the Upper Crust? 6-9 activity, dynamic planet
What Covers Our Land? 6-8 activity, land, satellite, mapping, land cover
Wetland in a Water Bottle 4-6 activity, wetland, groundwater, water table
Water: A Never-ending Story K-8 activity, water, natural resources
Water Quality, Dissolved Oxygen, and Phosphorous 6-12 activity, materials, water, water quality
Water Filtration K-12 activity, water, natural resources
Watch Out for Landslides 5-8 activity, landforms, natural hazards
Wash This Way! 4-9 activity, water
Visualizing Your Watershed 6-12 activity, materials, water, watershed
Visualizing terrain with maps activity, maps, volcano, landforms, rocks, ecosystems, natural hazards
Using Energy Resources Wisely 6-9 activity, energy, resources, water
Understanding Paleoclimate 6-12 activity, climate, paleoclimate, biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, sediments
Tropical Atlantic Aerosols 7-9 activity, satellite, storms, aerosols, temperature, atmosphere, pollutants
Tree Rings and Ancient Climatic Conditions 6-9 activity, archaeology, trees, climate, volcano, natural hazards, temperature
Traveling Nitrogen 5-9 activity, climate, weather, dynamic planet, energy, fossils, materials, oceans, rocks, landforms, soil, water, space, natural resources
Tracking Dinosaurs 7-10 activity, fossils

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