Overview

Find out just how much impact plastic pollution is having on marine life. There is more information on how ocean plastic harms marine life in the Find out more section as well as in the Student Sheets for each activity. Depending on the resources you have available you can either create a poster or a diorama.

To make a poster simply choose one of the animals listed in the Plastic threats information cards (downloadable from the What you'll need section) and use the information to create a visual display which shows how everyday carelessness and use of unnecessary plastic can harm ocean creatures.

The diorama activity described below guides students and families to create a more detailed view of the impact of plastic on the marine environment. Read through the steps below and have a look at the Plastic threats templates (downloadable from the What you'll need section), which will guide you through making your diorama.

As a warning, some of the imagery and facts relating to the impact of plastic on marine life may be distressing for younger children and teacher or parental discretion should be used.

The diorama activity steps below are just a guide, and feel free to use your own ideas and any materials to hand to achieve the objective of showing the impact of plastic pollution on marine life.

Activity steps

1. For your diorama, you will need a cardboard box, about 40 cm wide by 60 cm long and 20 cm deep.
2. A smaller box could be used, but you may need to shrink some of the templated examples of marine life and plastic pollution.
3. Create the backing for your diorama. Use paper or paint to represent the sandy bottom, ocean, and blue sky. Cut and stick a piece of yellow or sandy-coloured backing paper to line the bottom of your box. Cut and stick pieces of blue backing paper to line the top and sides of the box to represent the sky.
4. Then measure out a section of aluminium foil to go around the sides of your box to represent the ocean. Cut a wave pattern along the top of the foil, and then stick it in place.
5. Add examples of marine life, plastic pollution and information cards. This can be done by either sticking, propping or hanging the cards within the box.
6. Some of the examples will have tabs on them which can be folded back and stuck to the bottom of the ‘sea’, allowing them to be propped up.
7. Other examples can be stuck to the backing. Depending on the example, these can be placed either in the sea, sky or resting on the waves.
8. You can also hang examples from the top of the box. Just attach them to cotton thread and make a hole in the top of the box, feed the thread through and attach it to a paper clip.
9. Dioramas are our favourite! We definitely need to see a picture of your amazing creation, and so does everyone else! Please share a photo on Instagram, or even a video of you describing what’s going on. Don’t forget to tag @commonseas when posting (and use the hashtag #SeaChampions), so we can share more widely as well. Thank you!

Examples of work

Activity materials

• Cardboard box (ideally larger than 40 cm wide by 60 cm long and 20 cm deep)
• Backing paper or similar
• Aluminium foil
• Colouring pen(cil)s
• Cotton thread
• Paper clips
• Safety scissors
• Sticky tape
• Play dough or modelling clay
• Waste plastic at home (preferably destined for landfill)

Plastic can cause harm to marine life and humans in three ways. Physical harm can be caused when animals become entangled in plastics and when animals eat plastic. Chemical harm can occur due to the toxic nature of the chemical additives associated with the manufacturing of plastics. Biological harm can occur as microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria ‘hitch-hike’ on plastic particles, taking them to new environments or speeding their spread.

Animals can become caught in plastic debris. This occurs to a number of species including turtles, sharks and seals. One of the main culprits is discarded fishing nets and fishing gear.

Plastic waste in the ocean can also be mistaken for food. Albatross chicks have been found on Midway Island in the Pacific and are presumed to have starved to death, with their stomachs full of plastic instead of food.

Plastic waste does not only affect larger species. As large items of plastic waste are made brittle by UV light and broken up by wave action, they become available as food for smaller creatures, such as copepods and shellfish. Laboratory studies have shown that when small animals eat plastics it can reduce the amount of food they can eat.

A fuller description of the threat marine plastic pollution poses can be found in the Subject Update How does plastic harm the environment?.