Babies & Microplastics

Parents today have a lot of things to be concerned about when it comes to keeping their children safe. One of the latest safety concerns is around microplastics. After reading about this topic, I immediately thought that Babies & Microplastics would be a relevant lesson to include when teaching about infant and toddler safety in child development, parenting or even health classes.

Set

  • Display actual plastic baby and toddler bottles, toys, diapers, binkies, etc. if you have them. If not, use the Bell Ringer Slide to ask students what all of the items have in common. See if anyone can spot that all of the items are made from plastic.
  • Then show the second slide, asking if they would feed their infant plastic.  Most students will probably be horrified that you would ask such a thing, but that is exactly what is happening, unbeknownst to most parents, when they use plastic products.

Materials

  • iPads or Laptops
  • Projector & Screen
  • Plastic Baby & Toddler Products (optional)

Activities

  • Help students learn more about this topic, by viewing the YouTube video titled, “Gravitas: Study finds babies are full of microplastics“. As they view, have them fill out the video prompts.  Discuss or collect afterwards (your call).
  • Now that students know more about this topic, go over the “Use This, Not This Guide Sheet & Rubric” before assigning each student or pair of students a product from the list. There is a sample included on the guide sheet showing students how to set up their presentation slide.
  • Students will research their assigned product and find a viable, safer alternative along with reasons for using or not using to include in their presentation slide.
  • Each student or group will share their product and safer alternative with the class. The audience will fill out the notes form and then complete the reflection prompts once all products have been shared.
  • Optional: This would make a great bulletin board or display to help educate others about microplastics! Each single slide could be printed out in color and hung for all to see or you could create a display using the actual products if you had access to them. Either way it’s interesting and informative!

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