Protect Our Planet Project
The air, land, and water around us are changing ā and young people are noticing. Theyāre asking questions, making observations, and trying to understand what these changes mean for their world. But knowing what to do with that awareness can be harder.
Protect Our Planet invites young people around the world, ages 5-25, to explore the air, land, and water around them and use creativity to share their stories and ideas for a thriving planet.
The deadline to submit creative work to the Protect Our Planet Project is June 1, 2027 11:59pm PDT.
Sign up
Get Your Students Engaged
Practice Hands-On Philanthropy:
Turn creative expression into giving back.
Build Curiosity, Confidence, and Leadership
Explore, ask questions, and discover new perspectives.
Earn Service Hours and Certificate of Completion
Get recognized for participating.
How It Works
Students Rebuild empowers young people ages 5-25 to take direct action and see firsthand how they can make a difference. The project is adaptable and can be scaled from a single lesson to a full year. We provide free resources to help you teach within whatever time and space you have.
1. Sign Up
Educators or youth leaders sign up their group or class for the project.
2. Explore
Use our free resources to teach students about the issue.
3. Create
Select a creative medium – visual art, writing, performance, digital media, or STEM – and have students express their ideas, thoughts, and solutions.
4. Share
Submit students’ work. Each creative work or student engaged unlocks a $5 donation to global charities, up to $1M.
5. Impact
Creative submissions help raise funds for local and global solutions.
Types Of Creative Work Accepted
Literary Arts (Short stories, essays, and poetry), Performing Arts (Dance, theater, and music), Media ArtsĀ (PSAs, films, and videos), Media ArtsĀ (PSAs, films, and videos), Visual Arts (Graphic design, drawings, paintings, photography, and memes), STEM (Robotics, digital design, and games)
Help Protect Our Planet Project
Help us reach our goal of raising $1M for Green Horizon Ventures, National Wildlife Federation, One Earth, Seatrees, and The Nature Conservancy. These organizations are working on the ground to care for the air, land, and water around us.Ā
$34,475
Raised of $1,000,000 goal
4,277
Creative expressions
6,056
Youth engaged
Learn more about the partner organizations these funds are helping support.
Need Help Getting Started?
Explore our resources! We have activity ideas, book lists, and standards-aligned curriculum for each element to help you easily implement the Protect Our Planet Project.
Gallery
Get inspired! Check out the Protect Our Planet Gallery to see the creative work submitted by young people around the world.
Hometown Houses Collaboration
Team
TEAM PIRATES
Reflection
Our Victor K-12 art program engaged in a collaborative project this Fall in order to consider the practice that quiltmaking communities have to both up-cycle and share resources. The parts of our house blocks were made from newly decorated, and older art paper from the previous year. We scoured the school kitchen for cardboard boxes which were flattened and cut down. We followed a common pattern, gluing our up-cycled paper onto the quilt parts and finally assembling them to make multiple blocks of nine. For inspiration the students looked at the work of Laura Petrovich Cheney, an artist who uses up-cycled wood scraps from disaster sites (such as New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina). She selects for color and an authentic worn texture, preferring not to enhance the colors with new paint. She cuts the scraps into shapes and then assembles them into multiple traditional quilt block patterns. We like to think that, like Petrovich Cheney, our images have a familiar yet pleasing effect.
Our students configured the two hometown community collaborations shown, and are hoping to place them at the local Victor Heritage Museum for our long-standing summer art display opportunity.
Wrap the Earth in Care
Team
Team 232
Reflection
š Wrap the Planet with Care, not Waste! ā»ļøš
Inspired by eco-friendly books from @mylibrarynyc , our students turned weeded library books into collages with one important message: PROTECT OUR PLANET! @studentsrebuild
Now, for Climate Action Day: Waste, weāre giving paper a second life! š±
The bulletin board students created asks:
šļø Donate brown paper and paper bags in our school lobby to help us create beautiful, eco-friendly holiday wrapping paper! Stay tuned for more details!
ā»ļø Reuse. Reimagine. Wrap with purpose! š
Marine Life
Team
Valor Heights ChangeMakers
Reflection
Students grades 5-11 created pastel art of an underwater scene. We considered the beauty of the ocean and our duty to protect it.
See what students are creating around the world
Use this map to find other teams participating in the project ā the pins show where teams created their works of creative expression. Click the icons to learn how the programs you helped fund are making a difference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions before signing up?
Ready to Get Started?
Protect Our Planet is Students Rebuild’s newest project. Young people explore the air, land, and water around them and share their ideas for a thriving planet through creative expression. Every submission sparks a $5 donation to organizations protecting our planet.
Sign up as an educator (classroom or club) or as an individual youth. You’ll get activity ideas, lesson plans, and a dashboard where you can submit projects and track your impact.
By signing up for the Protect Our Planet Project, youāll get access to a personalized dashboard, where you can submit creative projects and track fundraising progress. Whether you’re working solo or engaging your whole school, all participation is welcome!