Class Games & Activities
HANDS ON ACTIVITIES/GAMES
Pass The Bag: Line the children up on teams with no more than 6-8 students per team. Give the first student a plastic bag. When they are instructed to start the activity, the first student passes the bag to the student behind him over his head, the second student passes the bag to the student behind him between his legs, and continue on until the bag is at the back of the line. The last student runs to the front of the line and begins the process over again. This continues until the first student is back at the front. The team that finishes the relay first, wins. If the students want a faster game, add more bags to the relay by giving student #1 2 or 3 bags which he must pass one at a time. The last student cannot move to the front until he has received all the bags. Incorporate a lesson on the blight caused by mishandling plastic bags.
Litter Bag:Place a pile of "clean" litter in the middle of the floor. Divide students up into teams and give each team a litter grabber (can be provided by KALB). The first student must run to the pile of litter, pick up one piece with the grabber and return to their team placing the litter in the team's trash bag. He then passes the grabber on to the next student who repeats the process. When all trash is gone, the team with the most pieces of litter wins. Incorporate a lesson on the blight of litter, the dangers caused by litter to humans, wildlife, and the environment, and how litter can and should be prevented.
PREVENTABLE JOURNEY: Excellent Hands-On Study of the Journey of Litter
Summary - Students will track the movement of a piece of litter as it moves through different land and aquatic environments.
Objective - Students will be able to describe the ecological impact of one piece of litter by following and predicting consequences of misplaced trash, i.e. litter. Students will be able to explain the possible effects of litter in both oral and written format. Background - Often the environmental consequences of what we do and don't do are never fully realized. This activity will trace the possible path of one type of litter -- the plastic bags obtained from grocery, drug, department, and other stores. The litter item can be changed to mix up the outcome, if you wish.
Advance Preparation:
1. Make a sign for each of the following stations: Roadside, Front Yard, Tree, Storm Drain, Tennessee River, Mississippi River, Ocean, Beach, and Turtle.. Tape each sign to a different location in the room (allow room for students to move from one station to another).
2. Construct nine dice or cardboard cubes, one for each station. Each cube should have six sides and be labeled as listed below. (Include station name on each cube to easily identify the cubes in the future.) Place each cube at its corresponding station prior to beginning:
* Roadside Cube: 1 side - Front Yard; 1 side -Storm Drain; 2 sides -Stay; 2 sides -Tree
* Front Yard Cube: 1 side -Storm Drain; 1 side Roadside; 2 sides -Tree; 1 side -Stay
* Tree Cube: 2 sides - Stay; 1 side -Front Yard; 2 sides - Roadside; 1 side - Tennessee River
* Storm Drain Cube: 3 sides - Tennessee River; 3 sides - Stay
* Tennessee River Cube: 1 side -Beach; 2 sides -Mississippi; 3 sides -Stay
* Mississippi River Cube: 2 sides -Ocean; 2 sides -Beach; 2 sides -Stay
* Ocean Cube: 4 sides -Stay; 1 side -Beach; 1 side -Turtle
* Beach Cube: 3 sides - Ocean, 2 sides -Mississippi River; 1 side - Stay
* Turtle Cube: 5 sides - Stay; 1 side - Beach
Procedure:
1. Begin by asking students to discuss litter and predict its impacts. Ask students if a plastic bag, such as we all receive from grocery, department, and drug stores, would be considered litter. Establish a working definition of the word “litter” through continued discussion. A determination is reached with an understanding the appropriate use and disposal of an item.
2. Explain to the students that they will play a game that will illustrate possibilities in the lifespan of a plastic bag that has become litter. Each student will represent one plastic bag that had been properly placed into a waste/trash container; but the container had no lid, and as the wind blew, the bag became litter. Ask students to predict where the bag will land. Point out the stations around the room and explain that each student will start their lives as litter at one of the nine stations.
3. Explain the rules: Each student will take a turn rolling the cube at their starting station. The label facing up on the cube will determine where that particular plastic bag’s next destination will be. The person should then move to the back of the line at its new destination and wait his/her turn to roll the die there. If the cube shows “stay”, the person should move to the back of the line at that same station and wait for his/her turn to roll the cube again.
4. Give each student a piece of paper and pencil and have them record the numbers 1 through 10 down the left side (or make a copy of the student page for each student). During their “travels,” each student will keep a record of where they are traveling and will have ten opportunities to move. Note that it is possible (though not probable) for a plastic bag to stay in one location for the entire game.
5. Break students into nine small groups and assign each group to a different starting station. Have students record their initial location/station beside their space numbered 1. Now, let the wind blow and the rolling begin! Remind students to record their locations after each roll.
6. Prompt discussion of the journeys of the plastic bags. Sample starter questions include:
How many of you were at one station more than one turn?
How many were in the trees? In the ocean?
How long did you stay there? Did anyone get “stuck” in one place?
Why might this happen? (Examples might be that the bags could get caught in branches, or hooked onto things in the ocean, etc.)
Wrap Up/Assessment
1. Explain that the students have lots of ‘food for thought’ in the records of their journeys! Their follow-up assignment is to use the data generated in their record to write an appropriate and descriptive short story. Ask them to convince the reader about the fate of litter. Be sure to include “If only.....” or “The next time I hope...”.
Extensions
1. Have students discuss ways to reduce and prevent litter in their community.
2.Have students research and write a similar scenario utilizing a different piece of litter. Suggestions might include an aluminum soda can, metal food can, plastic milk jug, six-pack holder, glass juice bottle, newspaper, old written test, candy bar wrapper, etc. The scenario should include possible places visited by their piece of litter and it’s possible impacts. Students should also include the natural resources used to make the item as well as the amount of time it might take “their litter” to decompose.
For more activities about marine debris, please refer to the following:
Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ocean and Coastal Protection Division, 401 M St., SW, Washington, DC 20460.