New innovative resources aiming to make a splash

How do we connect people to things that they can’t see?

This has been one of the burning questions that the Stronger Shores team have been asking ourselves time after time. Seagrass meadows, kelp forests and oyster reefs are often hidden below our waves, making it difficult for people to see, understand and connect to.

We therefore made it our mission to create some fun and engaging resources to help bring the underwater work to people to allow them to learn about some of the amazing benefits that we can get from these habitats. The Stronger Shores team worked with experts from a Design Agency called Imagemakers to think outside of the box and create some exciting, educational games for everyone to enjoy.

What resources do we use?

Weaken the Wave board game

The board game shows how we can use seagrass, kelp and oysters to help protect our coastline from coastal erosion and flooding. The aim of the game is to reduce the size and power of Wygla the Wave by correctly answering questions about seagrass, kelp and oysters. Each time you get a question correct, a habitat counter helps to block to wave, making it smaller and less powerful which helps to protect our coastline.

Seagrass Saver bag toss game

This game aims to educate people about the different areas in which seagrass can grow and the different factors that can effect the survival of seagrass, such as stormy conditions or birds eating the seeds. Players throw bean bags into 3 different areas on the board – all of which represent different conditions for seagrass to grow. The better the area, the more points you score.

Ecosystem Services jenga

Jenga with a twist! This game aims to educate people about all of the wonderful benefits that seagrass, kelp and oysters can offer. Each block represents one of the three habitats, as well as two different benefits that they can offer. The more blocks and therefore habitats you remove makes the tower less stable, eventually resulting in the tower collapsing.

Wave Tank

Our wave tank was a big success during our summer 2023 engagement. However, our pretend seagrass, kelp and oysters needed work. We now have some brand new inserts that show the changes that these habitats can have on the movement of the waves, showing that the more seagrass, kelp and oysters we have, the bigger the impact they will have on reducing the waves, helping to protect our coastline.

Food Chain tag

We wanted to create a game that showed how the underwater world connected together. And who doesn’t love a game of tag? Food chain tag is a game that shows the different food chains that exist under the water. Each player gets a bib to wear with a different marine species on it. Players must tag the person that they ‘eat’ as part of the food chain, and must try and avoid being ‘eaten’ by the species that would eat them.

We are delighted with our new fun and exciting engagement resources and we can’t wait to use these throughout the project and beyond!