20+ Environment Related

Activities for Physical Education

The purpose of this document is to spur ideas on how to address environmental learning objectives in physical education.

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• 12 Ways to Teach Any Content Through Physical Activity (2)
• Effects of Climate Change (3)
• Tragedy of the Commons Pre-Activity (4)

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• Journey of Photons (5-7)
• Changing Earth’s Temperature (2 versions) (8-10)
• Water Usage (4 versions) (11-14)
• Journey of Water Molecules (15)
• Carbon Footprint (4 versions) (16-20)
• Total Cost of a Phone: From Materials to End of Life (21-22)
• Migration due to Rising Sea Levels (23)
• Greenhouse Gas Tag (24)
• Wildfire Containment (25)
• Forms of Energy Production (26-27)
• Community Cleanup (28-29)
• Upcycling (30)
• Recycling (31)
• Using Dance (32)
• Activities from National Environmental Education Foundation (33)
• National Parks - Stations (34)
• Planet Earth Trivia - This or That (35)

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Additional environment related concepts: 2024 Climate Literacy Guide, Climate.gov, Climate Kids, NEEF, and NASA.

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Also see Environmental Issues in Physical Education for ways to make your teaching practices more sustainable.

Effects of Climate Change

Tragedy of the Commons

Pre-Activity

The tragedy of the commons refers to a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource. If everyone thinks that their actions have little to no impact and disregard the recommendations, the cumulative effect impacts everyone. TLDR: Everything you do matters!

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Example - Toilet Paper Shortage during Covid

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During the COVID pandemic, toilet paper became scarce for a number of reasons. This was exacerbated by individuals, fearing they would run out, who were stockpiling. An individual doing this probably thought they were only taking a little extra and that it wouldn’t affect anyone. The problem was that there were too many people with this mindset.

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This is a good activity to start with

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• Class runs (or other locomotor skills) laps.

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• Each lap students pickup 1 Resource Card (there should be an amount of cards equal to the number of students multiplied by the number of laps).
• 1-4 students are secretly assigned take an extra card each lap.

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• On the last lap, the class will realize there aren’t enough resources for everyone.

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• Discussion.

Journey of Photons

Station Course

• Students start in the middle of the sun (very large circle) with a handout and pen/pencil.

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• The sun has pathways inside for students to follow before leaving for a station. They move outwards, back inwards, outwards, back inwards, etc. Continue multiple times before being emitted. This simulates photons escaping the sun (it can take a few thousand to a few million years for a photon to escape the sun).

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• When they are emitted they go to a designated area, copy the fact to the handout, perform activity, and return to the sun to repeat. Activity is over after students have each station checked off.

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Absorbed by Meteors, Comets, and Space Dust

Passes by earth (gravitational lensing)

Absorbed/Scattered by Earth’s atmosphere

Absorbed into plants (creates oxygen)

Absorbed by ice

Absorbed by water

Absorbed by animals

Journey of Photons

Station Course Map

Station 1

Station 2

Station 7

Station 3

Station 6

Station 4

Station 5

Start

Journey of Photons

Station Course Handout

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Changing Earth’s Temperature Activity #1

• Cards are spread out in the playing area.

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• Students race to find a card and return with it to their home position. They then place the card in the appropriate pile (raises temperature or lowers temperature), and performs the exercise for the pile they put the card in.

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• Cards that raise temperature
• Burning fossil fuels
• Refrigerants and other gases
• Deforestation
• Rearing animals
• Manufacturing
• Decomposing waste
• Conversion of natural habitats
• Pollution that absorbs sunlight
• Construction

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• Cards that lower temperature
• Keeping forests, wetlands, and green spaces
• Growing plants
• Having reflective surfaces
• Carbon capture and storage
• Sustainable agricultural practices
• Ocean life preservation
• Reducing consumerism
• Banning dangerous gases
• Reusing/donating items

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• Exercises
• Increasing temperature pile = jumping
• Decreasing temperature pile = hold squat

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• Discussion: How does increase in temperature affect earth?
• Established weather patterns can change.
• More energy for storms.
• Less ice and more water.
• Shifts in ecosystem characteristics: the length of the growing season, timing of flower blooms, and migration of birds.

Changing Earth’s Temperature

Activity #2

• Targets are spread out in the playing area.

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• Students (individually or in groups) use a manipulative psychomotor skill to hit the targets. If they are accurate, they take the target back to their home position.

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• The winner at the end of time is the student/group with the most targets that lower temperature minus any cards that increase temperature.

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• Targets that raise temperature
• Burning fossil fuels
• Refrigerants and other gases
• Deforestation
• Rearing animals
• Manufacturing
• Decomposing waste
• Conversion of natural habitats
• Pollution that absorbs sunlight
• Construction

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• Targets that lower temperature
• Keeping forests, wetlands, and green spaces
• Growing plants
• Having reflective surfaces
• Carbon capture and storage
• Sustainable agricultural practices
• Ocean life preservation
• Reducing consumerism
• Banning dangerous gases
• Reusing/donating items

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• Discussion: How does increase in temperature affect earth?
• Established weather patterns can change.
• More energy for storms.
• Less ice and more water.
• Shifts in ecosystem characteristics: the length of the growing season, timing of flower blooms, and migration of birds.

Cards for Changing Earth’s Temperature

Water Usage Activity #1

• Students are in groups and cards are spread out in the playing area.

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• 1 student from each group races to a card and returns with it to their group. Their group guesses whether the food item on the card has high, medium, and low water usage and places the card in the appropriate pile and performs the exercise. When finished, they next group member goes to get a card. Repeat.

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• Team with the most correct answers wins.

Water Usage Activity #2

• An average American uses 82 gallons of water a day. How can you reduce water usage?

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• Memory Game Relay Race
• Each water saving technique is printed on a card (2 of each card per group).
• Place cards on the floor in a grid (each team has their own grid).
• A team member races to the cards and flips over two (with the goal of finding matching cards). If they match the student brings both cards back to their group.

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Water Usage Activity #3

• An average American uses 82 gallons of water a day. How can you reduce water usage?

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• Coloring Book Relay Race
• Each student has a coloring page. 1 example below.
• Create stations with coloring crayons. Each station has 1 color.
• Students use a locomotor skill to reach a station and use the color to fill in their coloring page.
• When done with the color, students move on to another color station.

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Water Usage Activity #4

This or That Video

• Create a video (PowerPoint template) that places 2 water consumption activities/foods side by side.

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• Students choose the activity they think uses the least water and performs the exercise shown for their answer.

Picture of a This or That video

Journey of Water Molecules

Station Course

• Students start in a cloud (very large circle) with a handout and pen/pencil.

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• They complete the course, going from station to station.

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• At each station, students perform the activity and record the fact to their worksheet.

Directions: Assign activities for each category based on the intensity level. The intention is to give students a physical representation of the carbon footprint impact.

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Carbon Footprint Values for the Day:

Low 9,000 grams Medium 17,000 grams High 24,000 grams

Carbon Footprint Activity #1

Directions: Assign activities for each category based on the time. The intention is to give students a physical representation of the carbon footprint impact.

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Carbon Footprint Values for the Day:

Low 9,000 grams Medium 17,000 grams High 24,000 grams

Carbon Footprint Activity #2

Directions: Create a running course that is split into sections. Each section’s distance represents one of the example activities. The intention is to give students a physical representation of the carbon footprint impact.

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Carbon Footprint Values for the Day:

Low 9,000 grams Medium 17,000 grams High 24,000 grams

Carbon Footprint Activity #3

Carbon Footprint Activity #4

This or That Video

• Create a video (PowerPoint template) that places 2 activities side by side.

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• Students choose the activity they think has the lowest carbon footprint and performs the exercise shown for their answer.

Picture of a This or That video

Carbon Footprint Activities and Reflection Questions

• Any surprises?

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• What do you think your biggest carbon footprint activity is (does not have to be on this list)? Are their alternatives?

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• What are some things you have purchased that you can do without?

Facilitating Discussions and Debriefs

Total Cost of a Phone:

From Materials to End of Life Activity

• Obstacle course that follows the path of production, from sourcing the materials to ending up as waste.

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• Students stop at stations and perform the exercise for the listed amount of time.
• Time spent in the station is relative the %s. For example, 1% can represent 1 second of exercise. So if materials extraction represents 45% of the carbon footprint, students would perform the exercise for 45 seconds.
• Exercises should relate to the category.

Total Cost of a Phone:

From Materials to End of Life Facts

1. Materials Extraction (40-50%)

• Mining and Smelting: Many cell phone components, like cobalt, lithium, rare earth metals, and gold, come from mined sources. Mining and refining these materials is highly energy-intensive and often relies on fossil fuels.
• Environmental Impact: In addition to CO₂ emissions, this phase also impacts local ecosystems and water resources, especially in regions where mining practices may be less regulated.

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2. Manufacturing (15-25%)

• Component Production: Manufacturing the various phone components—such as the screen, battery, microchips, and circuitry—produces significant emissions due to high energy requirements and complex production processes.
• Assembly: Even though it’s a smaller part of the carbon footprint, assembling the phone in factories, particularly those powered by fossil fuels, adds emissions.

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3. Transportation (5-10%)

• Global Shipping: Most cell phones are produced in specific regions (often Asia) and shipped globally. Transportation by ship, plane, or truck has a considerable environmental impact, especially for long-haul flights, which contribute substantially to the total emissions.

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4. Usage (15-30%)

• Charging: During its lifespan, charging a phone also contributes to its overall carbon footprint. Though each charge consumes a small amount of electricity, when accumulated across billions of users worldwide, this phase is significant.
• Networking and Cloud Storage: Using mobile data and storing data in the cloud (e.g., photos, videos) has a carbon footprint due to data centers, which require large amounts of electricity.

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5. End-of-Life (5%)

• Waste Management: Once a phone reaches the end of its life, it’s often discarded or recycled. If phones aren’t properly recycled, they contribute to e-waste, which has both environmental and carbon impacts. Recycling phones to recover materials can reduce future mining emissions, but this process is only partly effective.

Migration Due to

Rising Sea Levels

• Use existing examples for framing the activity “Which islands will become uninhabitable due to climate change first?”

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• Provide a scenario of a low lying island at risk of being lost.
• Define what an atoll is.
• Students engage in a team building activity where they move to another location, bringing supplies with them (personal effects, drinking water and food, valuables, etc).
• Example 1: students must leave a low lying island from The Maldives to another island nearby.
• Example 2: students must leave a low lying island from The Maldives to India (add additional challenges for refugees).

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• Example Team Building Activities that Can Be Used
• Mountain Rescue (pg 30)

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• Example Conflict Resolution Activities that Can Be Used
• Bridges to Cross (pg 72)
• The Deep Divide (pg 114)
• Island and Bridges (pg 120)
• Rivers and Revelations (pg 131)

Greenhouse Gas Tag

• Runners are photons (light/heat) and taggers are a type of greenhouse gas (1 tagger for each type).
• When tagged, runners become part of the tagger (simulates trapped heat).
• Game is over once everyone is attached to a greenhouse gas.
• Discussion.

Wildfire Containment

• Use the Builders and Dozers activity but with a wildfire theme.
• Divide the class into builders and dozers.
• Builders start fire by putting cones upright.
• Dozers put out the fire by knocking down the cones.
• Spread out cones in the playing area. You can also include natural fire barriers (ie. using pool noodles to indicate rivers).
• At various time intervals, stop the activity and have students calculate how much of the fire is contained (number of upright cones divided by total number of cones).
• Continue until 100% containment.

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• What Does 'Containing A Fire' Really Mean?

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• With a few modifications, the activity can also be done to discuss reforestation.
• Builders plant trees by doing a specific movement.
• Dozers remove trees by doing a specific movement.

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Non-Renewable

Renewable

Renewable

Renewable

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Collect $50 every time you pass

LUNCH DETENTION

(Stay 2 Rounds)

Pay $20 into your lunch account

LUNCH DETENTION

(Just Visiting)

$20

$40

$60

$180

$160

$140

$80

$100

$120

$200

$220

$240

Forms of Energy Production

Coal

Oil

3

Natural Gas

Tidal

Solar

Biomass

6

6

• Max of 4 players.

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• Students start with $200.

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• Students can buy properties they land on. Purchase price and rent are shown.

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• Players roll the single die to move their piece and performs the exercise/activity associated with the property.

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• Community Chest cards are group activities.

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• Whoever has the most money wins (link to Monopoly money).

Nuclear

Hydropower

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Geothermal

Wind

Tidal

Solar

12

15

18

$30

$27

$33

$36

$24

$21

Community Chest

Community Chest

Community

Chest

Community

Chest

Community Cleanup Project

Community Cleanup Project

Upcycling

Reusing discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.

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Articles on Building Sports Equipment in Physical Education

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• Flying Discs
• Hacky Sacks
• Jump Rope
• Kites
• Skateboards and Snowboards
• Snowshoes
• Surfboards

Recycling

• Students are put in small groups.

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• Each group has a home station with a bin for each: paper, plastic, food waste, and garbage.

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• On go, 1 student from the group leaves the base to being back an object from the playing area. When they return, another group member leaves to get another object while the other group members sort the previous object into the correct bin.

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• Group with the most correct objects wins.

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• Additional resources:
• Race to Recycle
• The Recycle Game

Using Dance

• Create a dance to go along with a climate change based song.

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• Examples
• Earth Day Brain Breaks
• Earth Science Playlist
• Pinkfong Climate Change Playlist for Kids

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• Resources
• Art Zone: Dance & Science Collide
• Climate Initiative Performance Projects
• Explore the Environment through Dance Composition
• Fighting Climate Change with Dance
• How to Communicate Science through Dance

Sunwise Activities (NEEF)

Learning Expedition Toolkit (NEEF)

• Speedy Sun Relay Race
• Sunny Says
• Watch Your Shadow
• SunWise Surveyor

Turn your next trip outdoors into a learning expedition with the Get Dirty! Learning Expedition Toolkit. This guide is designed to assist in planning an instructive and memorable outing that incorporates best practices for outdoor environmental education.

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Additional resources:

• Environmental Education Group Games and Activities
• National Environmental Education Foundation Resources

National Parks - Stations

• Students move through stations, learn an interesting fact about the park, and perform an exercise.

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• The exercise should relate to:
• the geographic region
• the park
• the interesting fact

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• Resources for Activities
• National Park Service
• Kids in Parks TRACKtivities

Planet Earth Trivia - This or That

Link to Youtube Video