SANTA CRUZ >> If you attended elementary school in the Santa Cruz area and maybe even beyond in the past four decades, there’s a good chance you learned about the world of nature and how to keep it clean with catchy tunes.

Maybe it was an upbeat song about the water cycle, or perhaps one about the importance of soil in food production or the role invertebrates like insects play in the ecosystem. All of these songs came courtesy of Santa Cruz’s very own Banana Slug String Band, who are celebrating their 40th year of entertaining kids with songs about the wonders of the Earth. Naturally, so to speak, they will be celebrating with a 40th anniversary concert at the Rio Theatre March 29.

Alongside U2, Phish and now Radiohead, the Banana Slug String Band are part of an elite group of bands to have entered their fourth decade of performing without changing a single member. In this case, the band is composed of Doug “Dirt” Greenfield, “Airy” Larry Graff, “Marine” Mark Nolan and “Solar” Steve Van Zandt. They have released 12 albums featuring songs about the environment, science and all aspects the great outdoors and performed a litany of live shows with costumed characters.

“I am grateful,” Greenfield said of the band’s 40 years. “I am awakening to the understanding of how very unique it is to be able to spend time with four brethren that share a deep love of the planet and children, and that we’re able to carve a musical niche together and be able to continue it after all these years.”

The Slugs all met as teachers in San Mateo County’s Outdoor Education program and other environmental education programs. In addition to teaching youth about the wonders of the outdoors, they also had another passion: music. Graff said it started with playing songs around campfires and evolved into concerts.

“One of the programs made a recording of us, and that got the music out to a wider audience,” said Nolan. “It came from teaching kids in the redwoods.”

Eventually, Graff and Greenfield went into full-time teaching, which helped pay for additional gigs. Another big part of The Slugs’ success was Van Zandt’s songwriting.

“That music is what drives the band,” said Greenfield.

The Banana Slug String Band have a wide array of influences, from folk singers like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to ’60s icons like The Grateful Dead and John Sebastian from The Lovin’ Spoonful, and even other children’s artists like Raffi. These various influences and musical flavors have resulted in what Greenfield calls a “slug gumbo.”

Their songs have been performed in every style from folk to funk to reggae, blues, country and swing.“I’ve tried to write a song in every genre,” said Van Zandt.

However, Van Zandt said there was one glaring exception.

“I’d love to write a good pop song,” he said. “I can’t figure that genre out.”

The Banana Slug String Band have made songs about everything from the importance of composting in “Dirt Made My Lunch” to respecting bees in “Don’t Swat it” to adopting an organic lifestyle in, well, “Go Organic.” They also have done entire albums themed around the ocean, pollinators and wildlife in Yellowstone and the Teton Range.

Greenfield said part of the band’s goal was to create children’s music that taught listeners about these subjects without talking down to them. Additionally, he said the music was written to simultaneously expose listeners to different genres, which is why the band continues to have appeal for adults.

“We meet multi generations of people who have been exposed to music who come to us who are 20, 30, 40 years old coming to us before shows and saying ‘Hey, is “Ants” on the list today?’” he said.

Graff said a big part of what has kept audiences coming back is how unique and informative the songs are.

“They made it easy to connect with kids,” he said.

Van Zandt said there was so much children’s programming when the band started in 1985.

“There were kids’ musicians all over,” he said. “The community of kids’ musicians was huge, then guess what happened? The internet came in, and it seemed like a lot of that died out. We’re still trying to hang on and keep that spirit going.”

In the post-COVID pandemic world, Van Zandt said a lot of musicians are encouraging people to go to live shows, and the Banana Slug String Band are no exception.

“If we can keep doing that, then we are nurturing youth to continue that through their adulthood,” he said.

Van Zandt has written songs for both children and adults, and what he likes about children’s songs is he gets to be more literal.

“It’s not like a poetic thing that makes people think, ‘What did that mean?’” he said. “It puts it right out there, it’s literal, it’s science-based.”

The members also research topics for their music, including going on a hike at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming where they got information from naturalists about the various wildlife and features in the region. This resulted in the album “Goin’ Wild,” featuring songs about bison and grizzly bears but also the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone. The latter features a lyric about pyroclastic blastification, or a quick-moving current from a volcanic eruption, and Van Zandt said the band was approached by the parent of a 4-year-old girl — who wanted to be a geologist — to ask if they could play the song for her. They were floored when she sang along to the lyrics perfectly.

“She got up and sang it with us, and she sang that lyric, ‘pyroclastic blastification,’ at 4 years old,” he said.

Nolan said the live shows are spectacular, often featuring fully costumed characters such as Peter the Penguin or Louie the Crab as well as puppets like Mr. Dirt and various dancing and hand motions.

“It’s highly engaging,” he said.

When the Banana Slug String Band started, Van Zandt said songs with environmental messages were common, but they were always “doom and gloom.” The Slugs sought to bring more positive messages.

“There is real action that (kids) can take that can make a difference and that they can feel empowered and not feel like the world is moving so fast and in a way that makes them feel happy or comfortable,” said Greenfield. “There is more joy in this planet, more beauty, than there is all the trauma that’s being thrown at kids these days.”

Greenfield hopes the concert draws a mix of longtime fans and kids who have never even heard the Banana Slug String Band before.

“I am just as stoked to perform now as I was any year before,” he said. “I am so motivated to have the opportunity to present our music to children and families (and) inspire. In this day and age, it feels more important and more poignant than ever to be standing forward and putting out information that is not doom and gloom and in fact, the opposite: being inspiring and instructive and science-based.”

The concert is 4 p.m. Saturday at the Rio, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Doors open at 3. Adult tickets are $30 for ages 13 and older, and youth tickets are $15 for ages 12 and younger. The show is sponsored in part by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and Life Lab. For information, go to RioTheatre.com.