Ocean Plastics

Cross-curricular | Ages 5-7

Ocean Plastics 5-7 is a cross-curricular introduction to materials and their properties, which focusses on plastic and its abundance.

Students discover how many everyday products are made from or contain plastic, understanding its versatility and resilience. They go on to discover what happens to rubbish after it’s thrown away and explore recycling, landfill and litter.

Students find out how detrimental plastic is to marine life and create posters and models encouraging friends and family to recycle and reduce the amount of plastic they use.

This unit encourages proactive and positive behaviours, for all our futures.

You may wish to introduce ocean literacy to your students before commencing this unit, by teaching our short Oceans for beginners unit of work for ages 5-7.


Lesson 1: What are plastics?

In this lesson students are introduced to the properties of four common materials and explore where they can be found.

Lesson 2: Where are plastics?

In this lesson students discover what happens to their rubbish once it is thrown away through exploring recycling, landfill and litter.

Lesson 3: What impact can plastic have?

In this lesson students are introduced to ocean plastic pollution, how it gets there and the species it affects.

Lesson 4: What can I do?

The last lesson in this unit introduces students to the 6 Rs and encourages them to implement change in their own lives.



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