ODNR Division of Wildlife - Wild Kids - Parents and Educators

Script for Fred the Fish Activity

Introduction: Meet our friend Fred the Fish. Fred has lived in the river his entire life, playing games and doing various fishy things. Today Fred is adventuring downstream for the first time. Let’s see what happens on Fred’s downstream adventure!

1. Fred’s journey starts in the spring, and the snow is just starting to melt. All of the salt that was spread on the highways is now being washed into the stream as Fred swims by. (Add SALT)

2. Fred finds himself swimming near a picnic area. Picnickers who are enjoying the warm weather didn’t put their garbage into the trash cans. Now it has blown into the stream. How is Fred doing? (Add PAPER DOTS)

3. Fred discovers that a housing development has sprung up around his stream. All of the fertilizers that people used on their lawns and fields has washed into the stream and made plants grow very quickly. The stream wasn’t able to support them so the plants died. Now the decomposition of the plants is taking all of Fred’s oxygen! (Add GREEN BEVERAGE)

4. Another person in the development decides to wash his car while Fred’s in the stream. He gets a big bucket of hot soapy water and as he rinses his car, the soapy water runs down the driveway, into the storm drain, and into Fred’s stream. (Add DETERGENT)

5. It starts to rain as the stream takes Fred past a parking lot. Parked in this lot are several cars that are leaking oil. The rain is washing the oil right into the stream. (Add PANCAKE SYRUP)

6. Finally the rain stops and your neighbor finishes painting her new fence. She has leftover paint and she pours it into the storm drain to get rid of it. Where do you think it will end up? (Add YELLOW FOOD COLORING)

7. There are several factories along Fred’s stream. They are supposed to limit how many pollutants they dump into the river but the factory owners ignore the law. (Add WARM SOAPY WATER)

8. Fred then swims past the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Uh, oh! Part of the facility has broken down and released some of the collected waste into the stream. (Add TWO DROPS OF RED FOOD COLORING)

9. At last Fred’s journey is almost complete. He swims past the closed hazardous waste landfill located on the bank of the stream. Rusty barrels of toxic chemicals have leaked and the rain has washed them into the river. (Add FIVE DROPS OF GREEN FOOD COLORING).
How is Fred doing now?

Conclusion:

(While showing the tank after the pollutants are all in)

Fred the fish doesn’t like the downstream water, do you? Would you like to play, swim, or go fishing in this stream?

It is important for us to remember how many of the little things we do affect our water. We all need to protect it and be careful not to waste it. Most of these problems are caused because people do not understand that many of the things they throw away end up in our lakes and streams.

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