Sustainability Teaching Resources
Make teaching sustainability easy this school year with printable worksheets, activities for kids, lesson plans and more — all created by teachers for your primary classroom.
This teaching resource collection is aligned with the Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priority to help your students build a more sustainable future!
Each resource was designed to help your students understand how they can implement sustainable practices in the classroom and at home.
Our teacher team has carefully reviewed and curated each resource to ensure your students will be armed with information on everything from composting to conservation, as well as how to reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, and repair.
Tackling this topic for the first time in your classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Sustainability? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Sustainability is a cross-curriculum priority in the Australian Curriculum and for a good reason. Primary school is an important time to begin talking to students about sustainability as we can instill these practices early and make them into lifelong habits. But explaining this concept to kids can be tricky.
Here's a kid-friendly sustainability definition we like to use to explain its meaning to our students:
Sustainability is the ability to meet someone's current needs without hurting the ability of people in the future to meet their own needs.
On a more technical level, sustainability represents a holistic approach to addressing environmental, social and economic challenges in a way that supports long-term well-being and resilience.
This often includes practices such as reducing carbon emissions, conserving natural resources, and promoting social equity.
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Solving Global Problems - Design an Invention Workbook
Help your students discover how innovation and invention can solve global problems with an invention project workbook.
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What Could Happen? Environmental Change Task Cards
Predict and identify the effects of environmental change on plants and animals with a set of printable science task cards.
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Ecological Footprint Draw and Write
Help your students be more eco-conscious by having them complete a carbon footprint worksheet.
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Renewable or Nonrenewable? - Self-Checking Interactive
Investigate the differences between renewable and nonrenewable resources with a self-checking interactive science game.
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Renewable or Nonrenewable? Earth's Resources Task Cards
Identify natural resources and the types of renewable energy with 24 renewable and nonrenewable resource task cards.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Flipbooks
Display different ways to conserve resources with a set of handy recycling–based foldable interactive notebook templates.
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Helping the Earth Flipbook
Use this printable recycling flipbook with your students to teach them about ways to help Earth.
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Write About It! Recycling Writing Prompt Worksheets
Differentiate writing instruction in primary grades with informational writing prompts about recycling and conservation.
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Save the Planet - Kids Mini Book
Teach your students to reduce, reuse, and recycle with a printable Save the Planet kid's book.
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Earth Day Mini Book
Help your young students learn and write about Earth Day with a printable Earth Day book for kids.
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Human Impact on the Environment-Research Project
Uncover how humans positively and negatively impact the different biomes around the world with a guided research project.
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What is Pollution? Guided Note-Taking Worksheets
Provide your learners with an organised note-taking method with a pack of Pollution note-taking templates.
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Save Planet Earth - Science Word Wall Vocabulary
Print and display Earth Day-related terms in your classroom to improve vocabulary and discussion about Earth Day.
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Sustainability Activity - Caring for the Environment
Promote sustainable living with a sustainability sorting activity.
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What Can We Recycle? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Remember what to recycle with a cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Being Water Wise - Saving Water Poster Project
Learn and demonstrate knowledge about water conservation with a "Being Water Wise" poster project.
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How to Save Water Poster and Worksheet Pack
Teach your students ways to save water with a printable poster and worksheet pack.
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A World Without Water - Natural Resource Worksheet
Imagine and depict what a world without water would look like with a drawing prompt worksheet.
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Where Do Natural Resources Come From? Worksheet
Discover where Earth's natural resources are located with a pair of differentiated Natural Resource Worksheets.
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How Do We Use Natural Resources? Concept Map Worksheet
Help your students uncover the ways that humans use natural resources with a concept map.
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What is Pollution? Instructional Slide Deck
Show your students the types of pollution and their effects with an instructional slide deck.
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Caring For Country and Place in Sustainable Ways PowerPoint
Explore how Indigenous peoples care for Country and Place in sustainable ways with a teaching presentation.
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Material World PowerPoint - Processed and Natural Materials
Discover the difference between processed and natural materials with an instructional slide show.
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Comparing Energy Sources Worksheet & Graphic Organiser
Compare and contrast different types of renewable energy sources with a printable graphic organiser.
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How Can We Help Our Planet Mini Book
Help your students learn about how to keep our planet clean with a printable Earth Day book.
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I Promise To... Earth Day Flip Book Craft
Make a promise to protect the planet with a printable Earth Day flip book.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink and Repair Posters
Explain the concepts behind reducing, reusing, recycling, rethinking and repairing waste with a set of printable sustainability posters.
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Recycling Writing Prompts
Show off your procedural writing skills with a pack of recycling writing prompts.
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Changes to the Environment – Worksheet
Learn about environmental changes and how they affect living things with this worksheet.
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National Tree Day – Why Plant a Tree? Infographic Analysis Activity
Teach about the importance of trees on National Tree Day with an infographic poster and cloze note-taking worksheet.
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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – Crossword Puzzle
Reinforce science vocabulary with a renewable and nonrenewable resources crossword puzzle.
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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – Sorting Activity
Identify resources as either renewable or nonrenewable with this 24-card sorting activity