Download lesson plans Book a speaker or a workshop Get your class talking about water Sanitation superheroes lesson plan Introduction In 2015, world leaders agreed a goal to get water and toilets to everyone everywhere by 2030 as part of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. WaterAid s latest campaign - Toilets Saves Lives - petitions the UK government to ensure that plans are put in place for this goal to be achieved. This term, help your pupils learn about why toilets are so vital with our fun and engaging Super Toilet animation series, lesson plan and activity sheet. Aims To introduce the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. To understand why the Toilets Save Lives campaign is needed, and encourage others to find out more about it. To explore ways in which important messages can be spread. To design a new sanitation super hero or villain using the Super Toilet / Stool Wars animations for inspiration. Curriculum links This set of activities can be used to complement a number of curriculum subjects, as well as extra curricula provision. It is particularly relevant for the development of skills in English, for understanding development issues in Geography and for exploring health and hygiene in PSHE. These resources can be adapted for use for KS1, KS2 and KS3. Resources Super Toilet films - all available from: Everyone Everywhere 2030 film - available from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf_hlgnwewu Image sheets Toilets Save Lives logo Top tips for creating great animated characters sheet Key words Starter Sanitation Toilets Animation Global goals Campaign Poverty Display the Toilets Save Lives logo on the board. Ask the pupils to work in pairs to think and share their thoughts about what they think it s about and what it means.
Activities Display the toilet statistic that 2.3 billion people don t have access to a safe, clean toilet. That s 1 in 3 people across the world. Ask what they think the total population of the world is (7.4 billion), so that they can gauge the scale of the problem. Ask the pupils to consider what this means by imagining what life would be like if there were no toilets available to use. Where would they go? When would they go? How would their everyday life be affected? What problems might occur, if there are no toilets available? What might happen? How might people s lives be affected? Watch the Everyone Everywhere 2030 film. As a class, brainstorm everything learnt from the film. Were there any surprises about what was said? If so, what was surprising and why? How does what was presented in the film compare to our lives? Recap what WaterAid does using the background information above, and give a very brief overview of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and WaterAid s Toilet s Save Lives campaign to give some context to sanitation (toilets) as a global problem that needs addressing. Watch Stool Wars episodes 1, 2 and 3 and Super Toilet part 1 and 2 (you may wish to choose whether to watch all of the films or just one or two). Create a mind map showing all the characters in the animations. Take the following into consideration when mind mapping: o What does the character do? o Do they have a super power? o What is their mission and why? o Do they have any interesting features? Films such as Super Toilet and Stool Wars are a fun and lighthearted way of spreading important messages and information that we would like people to know and remember. Ask pupils why they think this works? Who do they think would be interested in Super Toilet and Stool Wars? Explain that in the countries where WaterAid works, lots of different methods are used to inform people about hygiene education. Look at the image sheets to see some of the methods used. Think about which might be more effective and why with different audiences (eg young children, teenagers etc). Explain to the pupils that they will be designing their own new character and episode to join Super Toilet or Stool Wars (they can decide which). The character can be either a super hero or a villain. Pupils can work individually, in pairs or groups to design their character and come up with a short episode where their character is the star. They will need to: o Draw the new character, outlining their powers. o How does the character fit in with the other Super Toilet or Stool Wars characters? o Create a short episode where their character is the star. They should write a script or draw out a storyboard (or both!). o They must include the idea that toilets save lives. Run through the top tips sheet with the class for some extra inspiration. When the characters and scripts / storyboards are completed, give the pupils the opportunity to present their characters and episodes to the rest of the class. If the software and skills are available, pupils could create their animations and share them on social media sites. Extension Ask the class to become toilet superheroes themselves. Using the Toilets Save Lives logos, create posters to tell others about the Global Goal for water and sanitation and the importance of toilets. Use facts and statistics to make them stand out you could even include your characters on the posters and a link to the WaterAid website for more information. Place the posters in key locations such as the back of toilet doors, above sinks, in corridors and so on.
Get social! Share what the pupils are doing across your school social media networks and don t forget to include the Toilets save lives hashtag #toiletssavelives and @WaterAidUK Assessment In small groups, pupils should feedback to each other whether the characters that have been designed are effective in getting the Toilets Save Lives message across and give pointers for how the characters could be improved. Plenary Using the WaterAid website, ask pupils to find out about one of the following and share their findings with a partner: Composting latrine VIP latrine
Top tips for creating great animated characters! Decide who your character is aimed at. Who is your audience? Children? Teenagers? Mums? Dads? Make sure the character will appeal to them. Make your character stand out from the crowd. Think about what makes your character special. Is it a super power that they have? Or the way they look? Try to make your character different to any others. Use real life qualities and styles to describe your character. Think about real life qualities in people. For example, they are loyal and kind. What about their style? Are they always very formal or relaxed? This will make your character easy to identify with and understand. Use exaggerated expressions. Make their expressions big! Think about how you know that a character is happy, sad or evil. Maybe they have a huge smile, or big sad eyes or big pointy teeth. Add accessories. Give your character some accessories. Examples could include a multifunctioning phone, a sword or something really ordinary that turns into something extraordinary. This will make your character memorable. Build up a back story. Where did your character come from? How does this link to what they re ambition is? Give your character goals and dreams. What is your character trying to do? Give them an ambition. This will help in deciding on what they look like, wear and their accessories. Give your character personality. What s your character s personality like? Are they friendly? Happy? Approachable? Think about how you can show their personality. Use the tips above to help. Get feedback from others. Show your character to friends, family, teachers and classmates to gather feedback. What do they think of your character? Is there anything they would change or improve? Create the right environment for your character. Does your character fit in to their surroundings. Does it make sense that they would be there? How do they fit in with other characters?