Activity instructions

Note: This could be a good activity to take outside. Research has shown that spending time outdoors has many benefits for all of us, especially for young people. For example:

Contact with nature is good for mental health - Researchers have found that contact with nature helps reduce stress and that a deeper, more active contact with nature can provide young people with calming and stabilising memories that they can draw on during stressful periods later in life.
Contact with nature is good for the mind - Research has shown that contact with nature can provide a wealth of learning opportunities and improve academic achievement.
Contact with nature is good for the body - Research has shown a link between body mass index (BMI) scores in children and their access to “green” areas and levels of outdoor play. BMI is often used by health authorities and researchers to indicate healthy weight ranges. In addition, natural environments improve balance and coordination and can have a positive impact on eyesight.
Contact with nature is linked to happiness - Research has shown that spending time in nature increases feelings of joy and happiness.

Find out more here and here.

Step 1

Students will participate in 1, 2 or 3 of the following ‘What am I? Activities.

The teacher or a student volunteer can read out the questions without revealing the answer until students have exhausted their supply of guesses. Students are free to guess at any stage.

Additional information is available below each activity to guide further research if students are interested.

Activity 1. What am I?

Questions:

I start as extremely flammable propylene gas – a by-product of gasoline refining.
I’m mixed with stuff and get heated until all my molecules join together into long polymer chains.
I’m then a powder, which is mixed with water, colours, antioxidants and UV stabilisers.
I’m then extruded to form a shape.
I’m only used once.
200,000 tonnes of me end up in the ocean.
Bits of me have been found in the stomachs of whales, prawns, turtles, squid, sea birds and over 1,000 more 'creatures.
My tiny bits cause scarring in the stomach.
A World Wide Fund for Nature global study in 2019 found, on average, humans consume as much as five grams of the material that I’m made of a week.
The material I’m made of has also been found in human breast milk and placentas.
I take 200 years to break up completely.

Answer: A plastic straw

Sources:

Activity 2. What am I?

Questions:

I’m light, weighing between 85 and 250 grams.
I’m regularly disposed of – around 85% of all types of me end up being thrown away within a year or two.
Some of what is thrown away has never been used, and less than 1% of this is recycled.
An inland sea (once the fourth largest lake in the world) has almost entirely disappeared mostly because of producing me (Aral Sea, Central Asia).
There’s a place where a 20m high cliff is made up mostly of me and another where 59,000 tons more arrive every year.
It takes about 2,700 litres of water to make just one of some types of me.
In many places where I’m made, I’ve caused significant water pollution.
Another type of me uses less water but has a larger carbon footprint (5.3kg worth!)
This other type is usually made from crude oil and natural gas.
Most people making me get paid under half of the recommended minimum wage (in some places, this is only $94 a month).

Answer: A t-shirt (fast fashion)!

Tip: this is a great video about the life cycle of a fast fashion t-shirt: The lifecycle of a t-shirt

Sources:

Meaningful Moments: Animal and Object Guessing Game

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