Double trouble
You’ll need
- Scissors
- A4 paper
- Pens or pencils
- Printouts of the matching climate cards (on card or art paper)
- A copy of the climate facts
- A copy of the climate fact questions
Before you begin
- The person leading the activity should cut out the 'matching climate cards' with scissors. Mix them up well and spread them out, facing down, on the floor.
- Larger sections may benefit from playing the game in smaller groups, so consider preparing two or three sets of cards.
Run the activity
- The person leading the activity should explain to the group that they must find matching pairs of cards from the 24 face down on the floor. Everyone should take turns to pick up and look at two cards each. If the cards do not match, they must be put back where they were, again facing down. If the cards match, the player who picked them up can keep them.
- Whenever a player finds a pair, the person leading the activity should read out a climate change fact about the symbol on the cards from the 'climate fact questions' sheet.
- When the group has found all of the pairs, everyone should count how many pairs they made and got to keep. The player with the most pairs wins.
This activity helps contribute towards some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more about the SDGs, and how Scouts across the world are getting involved.
Safety
- Scissors
Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Guidance
Reflection
The group has played a classic game of Concentration or ‘Pairs’ with a climate-themed twist. How hard was it to remember where each card was after it was turned over again? Were the facts about the different cards interesting and did they make you want to find a particular pair?
The facts that the group heard about climate change have serious consequences for our planet. What do the group already know about saving electricity, eating sustainably and using fossil fuel alternatives? Is there more that they could do, like changing their diet or routine, which could help make a difference?
Younger players may need to turn over three cards per turn to help them find the pairs. Older players may prefer an additional challenge, such as working together as a team to find all the pairs in a limited number of turns.
Written cue cards of the climate change facts could be made for a Scout who’s deaf or hearing impaired.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Have the group devise their own game of ‘Double trouble.’ They should come up with a list of other climate change symbols to make more cards and draw the symbols themselves on matching pieces of paper or cardboard. These could be combined with the cards they have from this game.
The group should then work together to find some interesting climate change related facts to go with the new symbols that they have thought up.
Discover more at https://www.wwf.org.uk/
Allowing young groups to take the lead on this activity is a great way to inspire them to learn more about climate change and its causes.