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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Sustainability Quote Poster Number 8
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." - Edward Everett Hale
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Sustaining Our World Unit Plan
This Geography unit addresses concepts surrounding the sustainable use and management of natural resources.
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What Are Natural Resources?
A 60 minute lesson in which students will identify both renewable and non-renewable resources and where they come from.
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Sustainability in the Community
A 60 minute lesson in which students will develop an understanding of key vocabulary commonly used in relation to sustainability.
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How Much Waste Do We Throw Away?
An inquiry-based assessment task in which students will apply waste management strategies to reduce classroom waste.
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Sustainable Forestry
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate sustainable forestry practices.
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Overuse of Water
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the effects and potential consequences of water overuse.
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Occupations and Sustainability in Technologies Assessment
An assessment task in which students will demonstrate an understanding of occupations and sustainability in technologies.
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Recycling Case Study – Soft Plastics
A 60-minute lesson in which students will explore how changes from solid to liquid and liquid to solid can help in the process of recycling plastic.
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Sustainable Fishing
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate sustainable fishing practices.
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Sustainable Water Use
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate sustainable water use.
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Adapting to Country/Place
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' ways of living were adapted to the resources of their Country/Place.
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Sustainability - Ask the Experts
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' views about sustainability.
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Deforestation
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the effects and potential consequences of deforestation.
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Overfishing
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore the effects and potential consequences of overfishing.
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Natural Resource Use in the 21st Century
A 60 minute lesson in which students will explore how humans use natural resources and raw materials in the present day.
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Sustainability in Occupations
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investiagate why occupations within the community need to be sustainable.
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10 Sustainability Ideas for Teachers to Get Kids Excited About the Earth
Need ideas for getting your students engaged with sustainability? Try these favourites from our teacher team!
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10 Recycling Activities for Kids to Add to Your Lesson Plans This School Year
Looking for fun and engaging recycling activities for kids? Check out these 10 easy ideas plus free recycling reward schemes for teachers.
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The Best and Worst Plants for the Classroom (And How to Care for Them)
Do you know the best plants for the classroom? Check out this list of allergy-free, easy-care indoor plants, plus which plants to avoid.
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12 Sustainable Practices for Teachers to Make an Environmentally-Friendly Classroom
Use these sustainable practices to make your classroom greener and inspire your students to be kinder to our Earth!
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11 Excellent Earth Day Classroom Activities and Resources
Make Earth Day count with these fun Earth Day activities for kids in the classroom that incorporate math, science, and more, plus access free seeds, resources, and more for teachers!
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How to Make Composting in the Classroom Fun (And Educational) for Kids
Want to start a compost bin in the classroom and wondering how to make composting for kids fun? We walk you through the process step by step.
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A Simple DIY Classroom Garden
If I can create this class garden, anyone can...