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Title
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Grade Level
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Type
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Time
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Materials
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Summary and Activity Goals
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K – 8
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Introduction
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5 – 10 min
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None
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As a way to introduce the topic, ask students questions to assess their current knowledge, and prompt them to think about energy efficiency. This can be a whole group discussion, or modified to groups or pairs, at your or the teacher’s discretion.
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K – 8
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Group Activity
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15 – 20 min
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Paper or poster board, coloring utensils
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Students make posters for their school or home, illustrating reminders about how to be more energy efficient in their daily lives.
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K – 5
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Individual Activity
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10 – 20 min
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Energy Bears Coloring Book
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Students complete coloring activities about energy conservation and efficiency.
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K – 8
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Individual Activity
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15 – 20 min
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Thick paper or cardstock, stencil, scissors, markers, pens
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Students make switch plate covers for school and home to remind themselves to turn off the lights when a room is not occupied. They can also create thermostat reminders for the suggested temperature setting for their region.
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3 – 8
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Presentation
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15 – 20 min
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Handout
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Present and discuss everyday ways that students can reduce their energy use at home and school.
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3 – 8
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Presentation/Group Activity
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15 – 20 min
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Container with marbles, candies, or other small objects
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This hands-on activity illustrates the concepts of conservation and resource scarcity.
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3 – 8
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Presentation
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15 – 20 min
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Images
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Explore the definition of efficiency, in the context of energy, and solar energy in particular.
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Opening Questions (Grades K-8)
Talk to the teacher to think about the best way to open this discussion, paying attention to the vocabulary that students are familiar with. If you are presenting with a particular interest in solar, we suggest you use some of the Solar and Renewable opening questions to start.
Below is an example of some opening questions for a discussion about energy efficiency and conservation.
Even if we are using renewable sources of energy, it’s important to conserve energy and use appliances that are efficient.
What are some ways that we can waste electricity?
Leaving the lights on, old refrigerator, “vampire” power, heating/cooling.What happens if we waste electricity?
More energy use, higher power bills, more resource consumption, more pollution.What does conservation mean?
Note: for a hands-on way to illustrate this, see the Conservation Activity.Conservation has to do with how much we are using energy.
What does efficiency mean?
One definition: The ability to accomplish something with little waste of time and effort.
A more complex definition: The ratio of the useful work done by a machine, to the energy sup-plied to it, usually expressed as a percentage.Efficiency has to do with how we are using energy: i.e. how efficiency of our appliances, light bulbs, heating and cooling, etc. Efficiency can make a big difference in our energy consumption.
Energy Conservation Reminder Posters (Grades K-8)
Materials: Paper or poster board, coloring utensils
This activity should be preceded by distributing the Energy Conservation Tips? handout. Explain to students that they will have the opportunity to create posters to remind people in their school to conserve energy.
Break students out into groups to work on this activity and hand out at least one piece of blank poster paper (at least 11×17″) per group. Students should spend 3-5 minutes brainstorming what they would like to put on their poster before spending the remaining time drawing or writing out their energy conservation tips/reminders. They can pick their favorite tips from the handout, or think about their own.
End the activity by allowing groups to briefly present their poster. Remind students that they have the power to put these conservation practices into action today, and that they can make a difference!
Reminder Cards and Switch Plate Covers (Grades K-8)
Materials: Thick paper or card stock, stencil, scissors, markers, pens 
This activity works well after distributing the Energy Conservation Tips handout. Explain to students they will now have the opportunity to create reminders for themselves, their families, and peers to conserve energy.
Pass out the cardstock or paper that you are using for the activity. For switch plate covers, It’s helpful to provide a stencil for students to trace and cut out. Make sure each student gets at least one, if you have a lot of supplies students can make more than one.
Explain to students: You will create covers for their light switch plate and/or thermostats to remind everyone to conserve energy by turning off the light when leaving a room, or keeping the thermostat set to the recommended temperature for the region. (Look up this temperature range ahead of time.) Encourage students to be creative with their designs. Give the students a few minutes to create their covers and allow for a few minutes for students to show off their designs. End the activity by explaining that they can make a difference by being more energy efficient today and that using their covers will help them remember that all the little things (like turning off the lights) count!
Coloring Activities (Grades K-5)
The Energy Bears coloring book from the California Department of Community Services and Development is full of great activities and coloring pages you can select and photocopy for students. You may wish to share this link with the teacher to decide which activities would be most effective.
Energy Conservation Tips (Grades 3-8)
You may print and distribute this Energy Conservation Tips handout with energy efficiency and conservation tips. You can ask for student volunteers to read from the list. Ask for questions, and check for comprehension. For younger students, we recommend using the coloring book pages.
Additional resources and graphics:
What does ‘conservation’ mean? (Grades 3-8)
Materials: Container with marbles, candies, or other small objects
The purpose of this activity is to provide a general illustration the importance of conserving natural resources. The marbles in the bowl represent natural resources – such as trees, fossil fuels, fish, etc. Walk around the room, and visit students one by one. Instruct them that they can take as many marbles as they like. You will add a new marble to the bowl every 30 seconds.
Explain: In this game, these marbles are very valuable. As I walk around the room, I will visit you one by one. You may take as many marbles as you like. I will add one more marble to the bowl every 30 seconds.
The first time around, students may take the marbles out at a faster rate than you replace them. Some students may end up with no marbles at all.
Ask: How did that go? Ask students who got a lot of marbles, and students who didn’t get any. How do they feel about this game?
Collect the marbles again, and then proceed around the classroom in the opposite direction.
Ask again: How did that go?
The teacher is a great resource for discussing and planning this activity. Make sure it’s appropriate for the classroom you are visiting, and ask for assistance with framing and continuing the discussion after the activity is complete.
Explain: Conservation means using something slowly, so that everyone can have some, now and in the future. This is very important when it comes to energy. Imagine that the stored carbon-based energy on our planet is like these marbles. Right now, we are taking them at a much faster rate than the earth is producing them! Renewable energy is called renewable because our source “renews” much more quickly. The wind and the sun are energy sources that we don’t “use up” in the way we use coal and oil.
What does ‘energy efficient’ mean? (Grades 3-8)
What does efficient mean in the context of energy? 
- To explain this concept, you can show an example of an old and new refrigerator.
- What do we need for the refrigerator to keep our food cool? What happens if we unplug it?
- A refrigerator built in 1970 uses four times as much energy as a new “Energy Star” model and could cost as much as $200 more to run each year.