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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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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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – Sorting Activity
Identify resources as either renewable or nonrenewable with this 24-card sorting activity
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Renewable and Non-renewable Energy Sources Poster Pack
Use our Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Posters to isplay and examine renewable and non-renewable energy sources, including wind, hydroelectric, solar, natural gas, oil and coal.
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Human Innovation and Environmental Conservation Teaching Slides
Teach your students how human innovation is helping conserve the environment with this teaching presentation perfect for National Science Week 20204.
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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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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources – Crossword Puzzle
Reinforce science vocabulary with a renewable and nonrenewable resources crossword puzzle.
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Sustainability Quotes Poster Pack
Inspire sustainable practices in the classroom with a pack of printable Sustainability Quote posters.
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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources Flipbook
Use this printable science flipbook with your students to research and write about a chosen natural resource.
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Earth’s Resources Worksheet - Natural Resources & Fossil Fuels (3-4)
Explore what's buried in rocks underground with a printable Earth’s Resources Worksheet for Year 3.
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Australian Conservationists: Miranda Gibson – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Miranda Gibson and her conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Design a Conservation T-Shirt – Inquiry-Based Project
Use this conservation project to teach your students about how to ignite positive change in the face of a global environmental crisis.
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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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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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The Recycling Process Poster
Show your students the process materials go through when they are recycled with printable recycling posters.
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National Tree Day – Environment Word Search
Print a word search to use on National Tree Day or Earth Day to help your students learn about conservation.
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Building Sentences Earth Day Worksheet (F-1)
Build and write sentences about Earth Day with a printable Earth Day Worksheet for Foundation Year.
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Critically Endangered Animals Chart - World Map Poster
Use this endangered species world map when exploring animals that have been placed on the Critically Endangered list.
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Endangered Animals Classification Poster
Explore endangered animal classifications with this informative classroom poster.
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Waste Management Investigation - How Much Waste Do We Throw Away?
A practical investigation related to sustainable waste management.
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Recycling With Heat Worksheet
Explore how reversible and irreversible changes lend themself to recycling with a printable Recycling With Heat Worksheet.
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Exploring Australia’s Geothermal Hot Springs Worksheet Pack
Explore examples of geothermal energy in Australia with a Geothermal Hot Springs Worksheet Pack.
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Finding Fossil Fuels PowerPoint
Use an interactive ‘Finding Fossil Fuels’ Natural Resources PowerPoint to teach your students about how and where the Earth stores natural resources such as fossil fuels.
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Australian Conservationists: John Walmsley – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Dr John Walmsley and his conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Environmental Impact Science Experiments
Use these simple science experiments to teach your students about environmental issues such as oil and water pollution, soil quality and climate change.
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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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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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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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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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A World Without Water - Natural Resource Worksheet
Imagine and depict what a world without water would look like with a drawing prompt worksheet.