MELTDOWN: ‘the first board game that melts’ released to teach kids about climate change

By Rich Leigh on Saturday, March 9, 2013

As seen on the ever-brilliant Adverblog (a big inspiration for the creation of this site – is it possible to have a crush on a website? I guess if it’s OK to want to make sweet, sweet love to cars (link SFW), then it must be fine), a German science magazine for children has taken a unique approach to teaching kids about climate change.

To allow their young readers to experience the effects of global warming in a way that didn’t seem forced, or too studious, GEOlino created MELTDOWN, the first board game that melts:

Players have to take a polar bear family across slowly melting ice cubes to mainland, where they’ll be safe.

The game consists of a mould, polar bear characters and various dice. The melting ice is simply made by placing it in the freezer a good few hours before playing. In the video, it’s admitted that MELTDOWN certainly won’t end global warming, but by aiming to reach younger audiences, it might help people consider how their actions affect the environment at an early stage, when they’re more likely to take it on board.

Here’s the accompanying video (which, given the creativity and importance of the idea, has had a criminally low 30-something views at the time of writing):