Compost Game
OBJECTIVE
Students roll dice to collect cards with different ingredients for compost. This game is an introduction to the term “decompose”, “compost”, and “decomposer”.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What are decomposers?
What do they do?
What are the ingredients in compost?
MATERIALS NEEDED
PROCEDURE
Before the lessons print and cut out the compost game cards. On the black side of each picture, write a number 1-6.
Introduction:
Ask if anyone knows what compost is. What is it made of? How do we use it in the garden? Explain that we will play a game to build our own compost pile.
Lay cards out with numbers facing up. Demonstrate how to roll a die, count the number of dots and find a card with corresponding number. Show students what is on the card. Explain that students will take turns rolling the dice and collecting cards with different ingredients of compost.
Activity:
Students play the game. As they collect cards ask them questions about what is on them and if it is an ingredient of compost. When they get a decomposer card be sure to use the word and ask them what a decomposer is. Explain that decomposers break things down. Discuss examples of decomposers in the garden (roly polys, centipedes, worms, spiders, ants, and so on). When they pull a plastic card ask them: can we compost plastic?
After all of the cards have been collected it’s time to make a compost pile! Have students sort their cards by how you dispose of them (trash, recycling, or compost). “Recycle” the plastic in the middle of the table.
Next, Write the recipe for compost on the board. With older kids you can explain that it’s two parts brown/carbon to one part green/nitrogen and lots of decomposers. With younger kids explain that the recipe is a lot of brown, a little bit of green/worm food and some decomposers. Have them check that they have the ingredients they need, and if they don’t they can trade.
Wrap up/ Assessment:
Review what can be composted.
FOLLOW UP & EXTENSIONS
Build a classroom worm bin from Cornell Composting