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Play Microplastic Mayhem

Learn about microplastics, then play a game to protect the whales from plastic.

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You’ll need

  • Cones (optional)
  • Soft ball (optional)
  • Pool noodles (optional)

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.

Planning and setting up this activity

  • Write the following on four separate pieces of paper: the landfill site, the shallow ocean, the deep ocean and the Mariana Trench.
  • Place these four signs in order at intervals across the space, around 2m-3m apart. You could also mark the areas out with cones.
  • You may want to have different coloured bibs or neckers to help identify each team.
  • Some books that you could read to explore water include ‘Nurdle and the Microplastics’ by Claire Vowell or ‘The Whale Who Ate Plastic’ by Stephanie O’Connor

Running this activity

  1. Gather everyone together and explain that you’re going to learn about plastics. Ask if anyone knows anything about plastic.
  2. Explain that plastic is a material we use to make lots of useful things, such as toys and water bottles. It’s strong, lightweight, and can last a long time, which makes it great for making things. But, it can last on Earth for hundreds of years. A lot of plastic we throw away ends up in the ocean, even if we don’t live near the sea. About 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean every year. That’s the same as 1.3 million elephants. In the ocean, rivers and lakes, plastic can hurt sea animals. Some animals get trapped in plastic and others accidentally eat it, thinking it’s food. This can make them very sick, and sometimes they even die. Plastic can also break down into tiny pieces called ‘microplastics’, which are less than 5mm big. Fish and other sea animals can eat these tiny pieces of plastic. This means they eat the chemicals from the plastic, and then these might end up in other fish that eat them or the food we eat too. Microplastics have even been found in the deepest part of the ocean called the Mariana Trench.
  3. Ask everyone if they can think of an ocean animal who might eat microplastics in their fishy food and keep going until someone says whales.
  4. Tell everyone that whales eat tiny creatures called Krill. Whales often eat microplastics, but they were mostly in the whales’ food, the krill, and not the water.  The krill eat the plastic, and then the whale eats the krill. Blue whales, which are the largest animal on Earth, are likely eat up to 10 million individual pieces of microplastic every day.
  5. Explain that you’re going to play a game all about whales, krill and microplastics. Ask everyone to get into three groups. One group will be the microplastics, one group will be the krill, and one group will be the whales.
  6. Show everyone the four different areas of the space, which are the landfill site, the shallow ocean, the deep ocean and the Mariana Trench. You should make the deep ocean space bigger than the shallow ocean, so it’s harder for the microplastics and/or whales to be caught.
  7. The aim of the game is for the microplastics to try to reach the Mariana Trench. The need to start at the landfill site, then go to the shallow ocean, then the deep ocean and finally reach the Mariana Trench. But, the krill and the whales will be trying to stop them.
  8. The microplastics will start in the landfill, the krill will start in the shallow ocean and the whales will start in the deep ocean.
  9. When you say ‘Go!’ the microplastics enter the shallow ocean. They need to try to tag the krill. When a krill is tagged, they’re out. Any krill who are out can become an ocean helper and they can go to the deep ocean to help protect the whales.  
  10. Once all the krill have been tagged, the microplastics can enter the deep ocean. They need to try to tag the whales. However, the ocean helpers will be trying to stop them by tagging them.
    • If a microplastic is tagged by the ocean helpers, they’re out. They should return to the landfill site until the end of the game.
    • If a whale’s tagged by the microplastics, they’re out. To make this game harder, the whales could become ocean helpers too.
  1. The ocean helpers need to try to protect any remaining whales by tagging the microplastics and sending them back to landfill.
  2. If the microplastics successfully tag all the whales, then they win, and they can enter the Mariana Trench area.
  3. If the ocean cleaners successfully tag all the microplastics and return them all to landfill, then they win.

Reflection

This activity was all about learning about microplastics. What do you think about plastic? It can be useful, but it can also hurt animals and our planet. What do you think we could do about plastic? We could recycle it or try to use less plastic, especially if we’re only using the plastic item once, before throwing it away, such as plastic food wrappers. How else could we help stop or reduce plastic in our oceans, rivers or lakes? What might you tell someone about microplastics?

This game taught us all about microplastics and how they can damage our ocean. Why do you think animals might eat microplastics or plastic items? Sometimes they might eat them accidentally or eat other fish that have swallowed the microplastic. Some animals might also think they look like food.

This game required lots of teamwork. How did you work together and communicate with your team? Which team won? Why might they have won? For example, there could have been more microplastics than krill and whales, so it was easier for them to tag people. Did you have any tactics or ideas to try to tag people? Or did you work with someone to tag more people?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

  • To make this game harder, the ocean helpers may need to go and tag a spot in the Marina Trench after tagging someone, before coming back to tag someone else.
  • To make the game harder for the ocean helpers, you can have more people in the microplastics team. To make this game harder for the microplastics, you can have fewer people in the team.
  • To make this game harder, you could only let people tag each other in certain ways, such as with a soft foam ball or a pool noodle. 
  • If someone in a pair or group struggles with mobility or moving round, think about how the game could be adapted. Make sure any movements and actions are things everyone can do and let everyone can move around the space in whatever way works for them, whether that's walking, staying still or running. For example, you could play the game without running, such as having a walking version of the game or having different roles with different levels of movement. In this game, some people could have a stationary role, either standing or sat down, and play seaweed, who help try to trap the microplastics. You may want to make these adaptations for everyone or available for the whole group, so no-one feels singled out.
  • Some people may find it tricky to remember who’s playing what roles, such as who's on. You could use bibs or Neckers to help people remember. If anyone’s colour-blind, you may need to use colours that can easily be identified and are easy to tell the difference between. For example, red and green bibs may not work if someone's colourblind, as these colours are often harder to tell apart.
  • Some people are distressed by physical contact and/or being touched. This may mean they find being tagged uncomfortable. You could think of an alternative version. For example, if someone isn’t comfortable being tagged, you could place a necker in a belt loop or pocket for people to take instead of tagging someone or people could try to tag each other with pool noodles.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Earth Tribe Award

Depending on what people enjoy in this activity, this might help you decide what people like or want to do next in Earth Tribe, such as litter picking or visiting a recycling centre to learn more about plastics.

You can play the game with different ocean animals that young people choose. You could also see what ideas young people have to adapt the game, such as adding in seaweed to trap the microplastics or krill.