Environmental Books for Kids

July 12, 2021

Picture books are one of the best ways to introduce and reinforce any lesson or habit with young kids. That’s why I wrote a children’s book about the environment, recycling, and reducing waste to help families teach their children to care for our planet, called TuTu Goes Green. It’s why I recommend environmentalism for children through picture books and then reinforcing the messages with related activities.

Begin by choosing and reading a selection of age-appropriate books about going green. I designed my book specifically to introduce eco-friendly concepts kids can understand. There are so many great options to choose from. Here are some of my favorite titles that empower children to be change agents for our world:

The Berenstain Bears Go Green

The Berenstain Bears Go Green starts when the family discovers that the town dump is overflowing. It’s spilling garbage into the water! Can the Berenstain bears find a pollution solution before their beloved county is filled with garbage?

The Big Beach Cleanup

The Big Beach Cleanup is about a girl named Cora who is excited to enter the local sandcastle-building contest―until the contest is canceled due to litter at the beach. Determined to help save their favorite place, Cora and Mama get to work picking up the single-use plastics that have washed onto the shore. It will take more than four hands to clean up the beach, but Cora is just getting started.

Heroes of the Environment

Heroes of the Environment is true stories of 12 people from across North America who work to help save the environment. Heroes include a teenage girl who figured out how to remove an industrial pollutant from the Ohio River, a Mexican superstar wrestler who works to protect turtles and whales, and a teenage boy from Rhode Island who helped his community and his state develop effective e-waste recycling programs.

Rocket Says Clean Up!

Rocket Says Clean Up! - Rocket, is off to the islands to visit her grandparents. Her family loves nothing better than to beach comb and surf together...but the beach is clogged with trash! When she finds a turtle tangled in a net, Rocket decides that something must be done! Like a mini Greta Thunberg, our young activist's enthusiasm brings everyone together...to clean up the beach and prevent plastics from spoiling nature.

What a Waste

What a Waste is an educational book will teach young budding ecologists about how our actions affect planet Earth and the big impact we can make by the little things we do.

But books are just the jumping-off point. To really build comprehension and bring home the message, how you and your child talk about and act upon a book’s messages are key. In fact, research shows that parent-child conversation around story time involves more complex language and more diverse vocabulary than usual. It gets the child thinking and deepens their understanding, meaning your read-aloud time packs a lot more punch.