Activity overview

Run the activity

In this activity, the italic sections marked with the polar bear explain how you can link the children's learning to the Climate Challenge, and support the children to take positive action.

Introduction: Explain that plastic is not biodegradable and so can become a pollutant. Plants outgrow their pots and need bigger ones. Wouldn’t it be a good idea if we could make a biodegradable plant pot that would not create any rubbish? 

1. Working as a team, they will have 2 minutes to look at the materials and plan how to make a plant pot. Encourage them to think about how to make a container which will hold the soil but let water drain.  

2. Improving: After 2 minutes, discuss your plan with another group. Feedback your ideas to each other making sure you balance positive remarks and suggestions for improvement. What have you learned from swapping ideas? How can both groups improve their plans?  

If the children struggle to think of ways to use the newspaper you could show them this technique. 

3. Allow the children to use their method to create a plant pot each, fill it with compost and plant a seed.  

Once the seedlings are big enough to plant out, the whole pot can be planted straight into the ground as the paper will rot away (biodegrade) within a couple of months. The plants in their pots can be given as gifts once they have grown (it might be helpful to make and plant a few extra so that there’s enough for everybody). 

Background science

When teaching children about the Climate Challenge, it is important that we give them the facts (age appropriately and sensitively). During your discussion, allow time for children to express their thoughts and feelings and have them validated.

Most plant pots are made from plastic, but waste plastic is harmful to the planet. The problem is that when plastic is thrown away, it doesn’t go away- not for hundreds of years. This means that billions of tonnes of plastic are now buried in landfill (holes in the ground). Meanwhile, every year about 14 million tonnes of plastic is washed out into the oceans. This is the same weight as about 93,000 blue whales! Here, it can harm or kill marine wildlife: animals become tangled in this plastic waste or even mistake it for food and eat it. We can help by reducing the amount of plastic we use; reusing it or recycling when it can’t be used again. 

To get your children thinking about their seeds, why not show them a sprouting timelapse; this Growing seed video will help them visualise what happens in a plant pot. 

Take it further

After giving children the information they need about Climate Challenge issues, give them time to express how they feel, empathising with them and validating their feelings before taking it further.  

Activities 

Discuss with the class what they think might happen as the plant begins to grow. See the Royal Horticultural Society's website as well as Science and Plants for Schools for advice and tips on how to start growing seeds. Children could keep a photo record or write and draw a seed diary. 

Watch 

Watch this short video from Newsround which explains some of the problems with plastic. 

Discuss with the children what could be done to help and if there is a positive action they can take themselves. Explain that when lots of people carry out small positive changes, it can have a big impact overall.

Positive action

Children can start to spread the messages about plastic pollution. They could make a set of instructions (written or video) to share with their families about how to make biodegradable plant pots and why it is important? For more ideas on small positive steps to help the planet, read our article on The Climate Challenge.