Composting Games

GAMES!

These games give a chance for students to review concepts about composting in a creative, inexpensive and very fun way for children, parents, and teachers to use!

Create Your Own BOARD GAME

·         First, make a game board on a small, half size, and poster board. Make a path of squares with a starting and ending point. Since the goal of the game is to learn the difference between beneficial and non-beneficial composting practices, customize your game board. For example, on some spaces place earthworms, piles of grass or straw, or compost pile pictures. To make it more interactive for children, by trying to obtain actual materials that are involved with the cycle of composting.

·          If you land on one of these spaces, you will move forward two squares. On other squares put items that cannot be composted, such as glass or plastic bottles or metal cans. When you land on these, you move back three squares.

·         Make little game tokens. This is a great interactive and creative way for students to express themselves and what they have learned from this website. Each one could be a different type of organism beneficial to a compost pile: earthworms, pill bugs, bacteria... Next, create a list of compost questions and answers. For example, 'Which of the following is considered "green" when composting: straw, paper, fresh grass clippings, or wood mulch?' The correct answer is 'fresh grass clippings.'

·         Cut blank index cards in half and write the question on one side and the answer on the other. Stack the cards with the questions facing up. Choose the top card and try to answer the question. If it is correct, roll the die and move forward the corresponding number of spaces. If it is not correct, it becomes the turn of the person to your right. You win by being the first person to the end.

·         For even more competition, make these questions as a way to create Jeopardy in the classroom! Teachers can make their own version of jeopardy for their given audience. Break up students in a classroom into teams and have some sort of grand prize for the winner! Not only is this for children of all ages but a way to recall what you remembered about this website!

Scavenger Hunt

·         Set up the game by placing items that can be composted and those that cannot around the area. In some cases you may need to use pictures. If you are playing this outside, allow children to find naturally occurring items as well.

·         Create a check list, divided into items that can be composted and those that cannot. Gather your players and give each group of two or three a check list. Give them a certain amount of time to find the items. The group that finds the most within the time limit wins. If there is a tie, give them tie-breaker questions about composting from the true or false quiz below. 

SHUFFLE “PARTY ROCK” BEAN BAG GAME

Draw a grid onto a large poster board. Make each square of the grid approximately 6 x 6 inches. Fit as many squares onto the board as you can. In various squares draw pictures of good composting practices. Some examples include adding banana, apple, or potato peelings to the compost pile, using a garden fork to turn the pile, or sprinkling the pile with water. In other squares, draw pictures of bad composting practices. Some examples of these are adding meat to the pile, putting plastic in it, or spraying it with pesticides. Leave other squares blank.

In order to play the game, each person takes a turn tossing a bean bag onto the board with the goal of hitting a square that shows a good composting practice. Each time you succeed you earn a point. If you land on a square that shows bad composting methods you lose a point and have to move farther away from the grid by taking a step back. If you land on a blank square, you neither lose nor gain a point. The winner is the first person to earn 10 points. 
NOTE: The name of the game involves "Party Rocking" so if you want to really "shuffle" play the song "Party Rock by LMFAO" and you will have yourselves a very FUN time!

TRUE OR FALSE QUIZ

1.   Composting requires a lot of time and expensive equipment.

2.  Yard wastes, such as leaves or grass clippings, make up a relatively small proportion of total refuse from a typical household and need not be considered for recycling.

3.  Moisture is necessary for the composting process to occur.

4.  If you are throwing away grass clippings, you are losing money.

5.  To compost grass clippings, you should just put them in a pile in a back corner of your yard.

6.  To be a composter, you need to live out in the country, or at least in an area with plenty of yard space. 

7.  All kitchen scraps and garbage should be included in home or school compost systems.

8.  Diseased incurable vegetable and flower plants should NOT be composted in typical home or school systems.

9.   A tightly closed bin is necessary for the production of good “soil” compost. 

10.    For the composting process to occur efficiently, special microorganisms, hormones, and activators need to be added to the compost pile.

TRUE AND FALSE QUIZ ANSWERS

1.   FALSE

Composting can be as simple as making a pile of leaves and letting it sit until it decomposes.

2.  FALSE

Yard waste makes up 20-30% of a community's residential waste.  On average, each rural or suburban household produces about 6000 pounds of yard waste per year, which could easily be composted to produce “good” soils.

3.  TRUE

Composting occurs best at a moisture content of 50-60% (by weight). 

4.  TRUE

You can save time and money by letting short grass clippings fall back to the lawn rather than bagging and discarding them.  Clippings break down rapidly and provide nitrogen. 

5.  FALSE

Fresh grass clippings are quite moist and high in nitrogen, they should be mixed with a brown (example leaves) compost material.

6.  FALSE

Many people compost at the heart of inner cities, in community gardens or even on the roofs or balconies of schools and  apartment buildings. 

7.  FALSE

Although most food wastes can be composted, in small-scale compost systems you should avoid grease, fat, bones, fish, and meat scraps.  These materials attract dogs and nuisance animals, and often develop odors while composting.  Fats are slow to break down and greatly increase the length of time required before compost can be used.

8. TRUE

Diseased plants from the garden should not be used for compost if the compost is to be returned to the garden. 

9.  FALSE

If a bin is used, it should be designed to allow adequate air circulation for addition moisture.

10.             FALSE

The microorganisms that are needed to break wastes into compost are present in great numbers in all garden soil.