EPA Resources for Students

Whether you're in kindergarten or high school, the EPA offers opportunities and programs for students of all ages.

The links below will guide you through the programs available. Also included are links to fun and games for environmental enthusiasts.

K-8 | High School | Internships and Summer Programs | Fun and Games |

K-8 resources:

Acid Rain Kid’s Site
With games and activities and the Tale of Lucy Lake, this site is a fun and entertaining way to learn about the hazards of acid rain!

EEK (Environmental Education for Kids) Future Careers in the Environment Page
Like the environment?  Don’t know what you want to be when you grow up?  Check this site out to see how you can help the environment and have a successful career!

EPA Kids Site (K-4)
The EPA Environmental Kids Club is our Web site for kids. We'll help you explore your environment and learn how to protect it. We've got games, pictures, and stories.

EPA Student Center (5-8)
Is the environment a mystery to you? You probably know a lot more than you think! Here you'll find background information on many environmental issues. This site has detailed information about the environmental issues that interest you the most!

Exploring Estuaries
Estuaries are places where freshwater rivers and streams flow into the ocean, mixing with the seawater. A wide variety of birds, fish and other wildlife make estuaries their home. People also live, fish, swim and enjoy nature in estuaries and the lands surrounding them. Use this website to explore these unique environments, including some of the plants and animals that live there. Through a variety of games and activities, you'll also learn how you can help protect these natural treasures.

Follow a Drop
Follow a drop of water from the source through the treatment process. Water may be treated differently in different communities depending on the quality of the water which enters the plant. Groundwater is water located under ground and typically requires less treatment than water from lakes, rivers, and streams.

Interactive Water Cycle
The water on the Earth is constantly on the move; It recycles over and over again.  This process is called the Water Cycle.  Learn all about how this process works with this interactive site!

Kid’s Air—Air Quality Index for Kids
What should you do when the Air Quality Index is orange? Let the chameleons K.C., Koko, and Kool, show you how EPA measures pollution in the air!

Planet Protectors Club for Kids
As a Planet Protector, your mission is to improve the world around you by making less trash. Planet Protectors also help other people learn to reduce, reuse, and recycle. To carry out this mission, check out the fun activities and games available on this site. The more you learn about reducing wastes and saving resources, the better you become at carrying out the Planet Protector goals.

The Make a Difference Campaign
EPA's "Make a Difference" campaign is aimed at educating and engaging you in resource conservation and environmental protection. This campaign helps you make informed decisions for protecting the environment in your day-to-day life. The resources available on this site will inspire you to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste -- to "make a difference" at home, at school, and in your community.

The Happy Earth Day Coloring & Activity Book
A book full of activities to get you excited about Earth Day!

Young Eco-Hero Awards
Have you been working to preserve the world around you? Have you been teaching others how to protect the environment? Have you been doing an environmental research project? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you are a Young Eco-Hero. All Eco-Heroes serve as role models, showing others that each individual is important and can make a difference.  Visit this site to find out how you can receive a cash prize and a special certificate, as well as public recognition on our website and elsewhere!

Watershed Excursion
The Springs Coast Watershed consists of about 800 square miles of coastal land in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties of Florida. The trademarks of this watershed are the many springs that discharge to form several rivers, the extensive coastal swamps and salt marshes, high pine woodlands and lakes.  Visit this site to go on a virtual field trip of the region!

High School Resources:

Easy Breathers
Real students worked in front of and behind the camera to show you some cool vehicle technologies and seriously disgusting air pollution problems. It all started in fall 2000, when a group of high school students, teachers, and a professional video crew got together to produce a video on air pollution issues for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Ecosystems Exhibit
Check out this gallery of ecosystems exhibits to learn all about a variety ecosystems that exist.

EPA’s High School Environmental Center
Your portal to EPA environmental resources, this site will inform you about environmental issues and help you protect the environment.

Global Warming Facts & Our Future
Is the climate warming?  Are we the cause?  These questions are at the heart of today’s political debate over global warming.  Conflicting opinions are everywhere, but now is your chance to cut through the noise and get to the facts. 

Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Waste
More than 70,000 chemicals are used regularly around the world. Some occur naturally in the earth or atmosphere, others are synthetic, or human-made. When we use and dispose of them properly, they may enhance our quality of life. But when we use or dispose of them improperly, they can have harmful effects on humans, plants, and animals.  Check this fact sheet out for information about what can be hazardous to your health!

Indoor & Outdoor Air Pollution
Did you know that air pollution also can exist inside homes and other buildings? It can, and every year, the health of many people is affected by chemical substances present in the air within buildings.  Check out this site for activities and information about the air we breath—indoor and out!

Recycling
Recycling is a series of activities that includes collecting recyclable materials that would otherwise be considered waste, sorting and processing recyclables into raw materials such as fibers, and manufacturing raw materials into new products.  Check this site out to find out all about it and what you can do to help!

Stream Corridor Project
This module is about the physical structure of one of the most ecologically and hydrologically important parts of the watershed and the environment in general -- the stream corridor (defined as the stream, its floodplains, and a transitional upland fringe).

The Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act will improve air quality in the United States, a good thing for your health, your property and the environment. The 1990 Act could change the way you work or do business, and it could, in some ways, change the way you live.  Check this guide out to find out what the act does, without having to read all 800 pages!

Volunteer for Change
This publication is designed to give you examples of how you can volunteer to improve our environment.

World Water Monitoring Day
On October 18 each year, citizens of the global community will join in World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD), a worldwide opportunity to positively impact the health of rivers, lakes, estuaries and other waterbodies. Volunteer monitoring groups, water quality agencies, students, and the general public are invited to test four key indicators of water quality: temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity.  Check out this site to find out how you can participate!

Water Where You Live
Click on a state in the map on this site to find water information provided by EPA.

Your Car & Clean Air Fact Sheet
The US EPA has prepared this fact sheet to answer some of the most common questions about reducing emissions from private vehicles.  This is a major concern, as cars are a major source of air pollution in the United States.  Check it out to see what you can do to help make the air we breath cleaner!

Zip Code Search
Enter your zip code and choose from four databases to retrieve environmental information about your community.

Internships and Summer Programs

EPA Opportunities for College Graduates
Opportunities include the EPA Intern Program, the Federal Career Intern Program, the Presidential Management Fellows Program and the Office of Research and Development Post Doctoral Program.

P3 Award: A Student Design Competition for Sustainability
The P3 competition will provide grants to teams of college students to research, develop, and design sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.

Student Fellowships
The National Network for Environmental Management Studies (NNEMS) program is a comprehensive fellowship program that provides undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to participate in a fellowship project that is directly related to their field of study.

Fun and Games:

Environauts Mission to Earth
Take Ergon the Alien on a mission to save planet Earth from being taken over by trash.

Environmental Science Center Kids’ Corner Games Page
These games help kids learn about life in the Chesapeake Bay and the tools used by scientists at the Environmental Science Center.

National Institute of Environmental Health Services Games
The NIEHS provides an extensive list of fun games including hidden pictures, riddles, concentration games, sing-alongs, coloring, jokes and more!

Waste No Words Interactive Crossword Puzzle
This crossword puzzle helps kids learn about conservation and recycling.