• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
kitchen counter chronicles header new
  • Home
  • Activities
    • Fun Would You Rather Questions for Kids
    • Stem Activities for Kids
    • Top Books for Kids
    • Book Activities
    • Outdoor Play
    • Travel
  • Recipes
    • Meatless Monday Recipes for Families
    • 15+ Easy Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Families
    • lunch
    • dinner
    • dessert
    • snack
  • Tween
    • Parenting A Tween
    • Tween Gift Guides
  • Arts & Crafts
    • Fun Tween Crafts
    • Fun Art Projects for Tweens
    • Cool Creative Winter Crafts for Tweens
    • Cool Spring Crafts for Tweens to Make
    • The Best Summer Crafts for Tweens! Totally Tween Approved!
    • Fun Fall Crafts for Tweens and Teens
  • Holidays
    • Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids
    • Earth Day Activities for Kids
    • Easter
    • Mother’s Day
    • All The Best Father’s Day Ideas for Kids
    • Halloween Crafts for Kids
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas Crafts for Kids
      • Christmas
  • Green Living Ideas
    • How to Make An Awesome Home Garden with Kids
    • How to Build a Great Bee Friendly Garden at Home
  • About
    • Contact Me
    • Work With Me
    • Featured On
    • Disclosure Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Instagram
You are here: Home / earth day / What is A Carbon Footprint? Carbon Footprint Activity for Kids

What is A Carbon Footprint? Carbon Footprint Activity for Kids

By Jen

6.6K shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Yummly

What is a carbon footprint? Have you heard this term before? You probably have. My daughter heard it the other day and was wondering what it meant. When she asked me I realized that I didn’t have a great explanation to share. We have done many environmental science activities for kids in the past, so I knew that this was going to be an interesting and fun topic to explore.carbon footprint activity for kids poster and title

We decided to do some research, a little brainstorming and we came up with an explanation and a solution to the BIG carbon footprint problem. After all, it is very important to make carbon footprint for kids accessible.

What is A Carbon Footprint for Kids?

We had to start at the beginning. What is meant by the term carbon footprint and what is a definition of carbon footprint for kids?ecofriendly living examples

The generally accepted definition of carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide, or greenhouse gases, produced as a result of our daily living. In other words, many things we do creates carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases. If you add up the number and amount of emissions our daily activity produces you have an idea of the size of the impact we have on the environment.

What is carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound made from 1 atom of carbon and 2 atoms of oxygen. Plants use carbon dioxide in photosynthesis…releasing oxygen into the atmosphere for animals and humans to breathe. However, in high concentrations, carbon dioxide can be very harmful to our environment and contributes to global warming. Carbon dioxide is created when people burn fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, crude oil). Unfortunately, greenhouse gases hold onto the sun’s energy and trap the energy in our atmosphere – thus, increasing the global temperature.

This might seem like a hard concept for kids to understand, but when we started brainstorming a list of things we do every day that use fossil fuels and emit carbon dioxide the idea of a carbon footprint became a whole lot clearer.

Carbon Footprint Activity for Kids

paint
bristol board
markers

We started off our carbon footprint activity by stamping a footprint on a large piece of bristol board. We thought black paint made the most sense…just like a carbon footprint. Brush the paint on the bottom of your child’s foot and then have your child stamp into the middle of the board.carbon footprint black footprint painted on board

Once we had our footprint stamped on the poster it was time to start thinking about what contributes to a BIG carbon footprint.

These are some of the items that we came up with…

  • Driving a car – burning fuel (gasoline)
  • Flying in a plane – burning fuel (jet fuel)
  • Wasting energy in our house – burning fuel (natural gas/coal/nuclear energy)
  • Buying imported food – food that travels great distances – burning fuel (gasoline/jet fuel)
  • Buying non-organic food – pesticide production and transportation burn fuel
  • Using inefficient lights – burning fuel (natural gas/coal/nuclear energy)
  • Wasting water at home – cleaning water uses fuel (natural gas/coal/nuclear energy)

Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

kid writing ways to reduce your carbon footprint on posterOnce we had our list of what leads to a BIG carbon footprint we started to brainstorm ways to make our carbon footprint smaller. This part of the activity was creative and a lot of fun. We discussed all the alternative and environmentally friendlier choices we could make.

When we had brainstormed a list, we used our markers to write our ideas on our carbon footprint poster.ways to reduce your carbon footprint written on paper

In addition to all of the ways we can reduce our carbon footprint, my daughter came up with an inspiring quotation for our carbon footprint poster.

“Try to have the smallest carbon footprint you can have.”try to have the smallest carbon footprint you can have quote written on poster

Here’s a list of our eco-friendly options…

  • Carpool
  • Turn off the lights
  • Don’t waste water
  • Bike/Walk/Scooter when you can
  • Recycle and reuse paper at home and at school
  • Turn off the computer when it isn’t being used
  • Don’t waste food
  • Compost what we can

In the end, we not only figured out what is meant by the term carbon footprint, but we also figured out how to shrink our carbon footprint. We are going to hang our Carbon Footprint poster in a spot where we can see it and be reminded of the importance of keeping our footprint small.carbon footprint activity for kids

This simple carbon footprint activity for kids is a great introduction to the importance of being responsible for the choices we make every day. There are eco-friendly alternatives out there…we just have to stop and think. carbon footprint poster for kids final poster

Online Carbon Footprint Calculator

If you want to take a deeper dive into your family’s carbon footprint then check out www.carbonfootprint.com When you submit all of your family’s detailed energy usage information they will provide you with a breakdown of your carbon footprint.


Check out these other environmental science activities for kids

Oil Spill Clean Up Experiment fbExplore the best way to clean up the ocean after an oil spill

Polar Bear Learning Activity for Kids - Melting Sea IceDiscover the importance of polar ice and how the melting is impacting polar bears

earth day activities for kids collage of activitiesBe sure to check out all of our cool Earth Day activities for kids


Make sure you are following along…

SUBSCRIBE TO KITCHEN COUNTER CHRONICLES TO HAVE OUR DELICIOUS RECIPES, FUN CRAFTS & ACTIVITIES DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX.

FOLLOW KITCHEN COUNTER CHRONICLES ON

FACEBOOK:: PINTEREST:: TWITTER::INSTAGRAM 


natural parenting guide and blog hopAs we head toward Earth Day, on April 23rd, we are going to be exploring a number of environmental issues. Today’s post is part of the Natural Parenting and Earth Month Blog Hop that is taking place on over 20 blogs. 


 

Filed Under: earth day, Family Eco-Challenge, Green life, play and learn Tagged With: carbon footprint, environmental science for kids, green living

Previous Post: « Hands On Ocean Oil Spill Clean Up Experiment for Kids
Next Post: Cutest Easter Bunny Veggie Tray »

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. 3R Lesson – moHiKonTok says:
    April 14, 2022 at 8:39 am

    […] plastic idea reduce carbon footprint Poem […]

  2. Earth Day activities for kids: simple ways to celebrate the planet - The Many Little Joys says:
    April 20, 2022 at 11:06 am

    […] with your kids about the term “carbon footprint” and brainstorm some simple ideas of how to reduce the impact we have on our planet. Little […]

Primary Sidebar


welcome sidebar 2019

Search for More Ideas

Follow Along…

Popular Post

Footer


  Feel free to use information and pictures from this site, but please credit their source and include a direct link to Kitchen Counter Chronicles. Thank you


Kitchen Counter Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • 66
6.6K shares
6.6K shares
  • 66