Dump Detectives
I got this idea from a mom in my homeschooling group. And since GB is very environmentally concerned, I thought it would be a good activity. Granted, it’s like preaching to the choir in this house. We recycle more than any other family on our street. I have to take our recycling to the curb with a wheelbarrow because we have so much. But I still thought it would be interesting to see how much he had absorbed, and what he thought was biodegradable.
This is a fun, hands-on way to better understand the need to reuse and recycle.
First, draw a chalk line down your sidewalk or driveway. Mark the line in increments of 2-4 weeks, 1-6 months, 2-5 years, 10 years, 25 years, 25-30 years, 200-400 years and 1000 years.
Now, give your children the following: a plastic grocery bag, a cigarette butt, a banana peel, a glass bottle, a piece of wood, a soda can and an apple core. Ask them to place the items along the line where they think it will take the item that long to decompose. The first picture shows GB’s guesses. He hates cigarettes, so he thought it would take a thousand years for a cigarette butt to decompose. Not true, but good thought. He also thought the diaper would only take 4 weeks to decompose. How I wish this was true. The diaper situation in our landfills is appalling! Other than that he did pretty good. He knew that glass and aluminum take ages to decompose, and that fruits took much less time.
We discussed what this means in terms of our dumps and what can be done about it. Then he went to find some more items and guess, then research to determine how long it would take them to decompose. It’s kind of gross, but the first thing GB wanted to research was how long a dead body took to decompose all the way to dust. Boys!
Answers to above items: apple (2-4 weeks), banana peel (1-5 mos), cigarette butt (2-5 yrs), wood (10 yrs), diaper (25 years), plastic (25-30 years), can (200-400 yrs), glass bottle (1000 yrs!). And the answer to the dead body is 12-20 years depending on whether the corpse is an adult or child, what the grave temperature is, and whether the body was obese.
Wow!!! That is a great lesson! We are going to try that one. Did I tell you my dd is talking about being a vegetarian? She thinks killing animals to eat them is horrible. Especially the animals in the ocean, as we’re studying them right now. I’m getting a lecture every day…
Comment by Dana — July 19, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
Terrific idea! Think we might give that one a try when we get back.
Comment by
lapazfarm — July 19, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
I led a nature study group years ago and we discussed the decomp rate of things (except bodies!), but I like the idea of using the driveway to make it visual. Preaching to the choir here, too, but always interesting to see.
Comment by
paradisefound — July 24, 2007 @ 12:20 pm