Carbon Cycle Caper

Carbon Cycle Caper is a series of four games depicting the carbon cycle.

It is intended to take place in a school hall with up to 60 students and at least two adults.

It lasts about 70 minutes, broken down as follows:

• Introduction (approx. 5 minutes)
• Game 1: Where’s carbon? (approx. 10 minutes)
• Game 2: Move that carbon! (approx. 20 minutes)
• Game 3: Carbon cycle shuffle (approx. 20 minutes):Before Industrial Revolution (carbon in balance)
• Game 4: Carbon cycle shuffle (approx. 10 minutes) After Industrial Revolution (carbon is out of balance)
• Wrap up (approx. 5 minutes)

Full instructions for preparing and running this activity are given in the Carbon Cycle Caper Teachers’ Notes PDF below.

There’s also a Crib Sheet for you to use as a ready reference on the day.

Use the background science documents  below to find out about the latest climate science research to support your own knowledge and to give you the background information you may need when running this activity:

• Climate Science Background Briefing (PDF)
  Contains terminology, stats, background science, discussion ideas and links for further information.

• Impacts of Climate Change (PDF)
  A summary of how higher temperatures can lead to different sorts of climatic changes, and the impacts of these changes.

• Game 1: To identify the six areas where carbon is present in the biosphere – and in what form.
• Game 2: Introduce or reinforce the key processes by which carbon moves around the carbon cycle.
• Game 3: To understand what the carbon cycle was like before the Industrial Revolution.
• Game 4: To understand what the carbon cycle has been like since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and how that has affected the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.