A Place for Plastic

Adult Guidance
‘A Place for Plastic’ is a fully illustrated picture book designed for Key Stage 2 children. It follows the journey
of a plastic bag: initially being used to carry home the shopping then being thrown away; being blown from a
rubbish lorry and ending up in the sea; eventually searching to find its place in the world. The story can be used
as a whole-class text to stimulate discussion about plastic and ocean pollution. The detailed illustrations are
thought-provoking and deliberately lead the story with minimal text. A collection of supporting resources is
available for use in a whole class, small groups or with individual focused work.

Story Overview
As a Key Stage 2 picture book, the story is told largely through the use of detailed illustrations along with minimal
text. A plastic bag is brought home, carrying the shopping, then thrown in a household bin. It is then seen being
blown from a rubbish lorry – in a bid for freedom – before being carried on the wind to the shore. In the ocean,
there are close encounters with sea creatures such as turtles, sharks and whales.

A bird picks up the bag as it continues its journey. Among other plastic waste, it teams up with a plastic pirate
and a single running shoe. Out in the middle of the ocean, the bag reaches a destination akin to the Great Pacific
Garbage Patch, where a huge amount of debris floats on the surface of the water.

Eventually, the waves wash up the bag, the pirate and the shoe onto the shore, where there is a greater sense of
hope. There is a suggestion that the plastic bag could be reclaimed and recycled and a boy is depicted picking
litter on the beach.

Themes
• Plastic waste and its effects on the environment – discussion can be stimulated throughout by the sights of
plastic in the natural environment.

• Ocean pollution – much of the book is focused around the plastic bag in the ocean or underwater locations;
the presence of huge amounts of other plastic pollution floating on the surface is shown.

• Animal welfare – several examples of marine life come into contact with the bag, highlighting the potential
problems they face from plastic pollution. This includes mistaking plastic for food, ingesting it accidentally
and being injured by rogue items of plastic. Not all of these are explicitly shown but can again be part of a
stimulated discussion using the illustrations.

• Recycling (or reducing and reusing materials) – the bag features a recycling symbol. The whole story links to
the problems of single-use plastics that are not recycled.

• Littering – the first illustration includes a depiction of someone dropping litter; it could be inferred that some of
the plastic that exists in the story may have come from littering.

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Additional Resources
The story is available in eBook and printable PDF form for both Windows and Mac. There is also a PowerPoint
version available.

The story is deliberately written to include minimal words and be driven by powerful illustrations which stimulate
children’s thinking and discussion.

You may also wish to download and use a completely wordless version of the story and rely solely on the
pictures. As a follow-up activity, you can challenge children to then write their own version of what they think the
words should be. This could narrate the story from the bag’s perspective or from a third-person view.

Additional resources also include a Guided Reading Questions PowerPoint in order to structure discussion about
each illustration spread. If presenting as an assembly, there is an Assembly Script with prompts to accompany
the story presentation.

Alongside, or entirely separate to work on the story, there are differentiated reading comprehension activities for
both lower KS2 and upper KS2.

Further supporting resources include a Litter Picking Pack, Display Lettering and Colouring Pages; use a
PowerPoint to show some of the Plastic Pollution Problems; see how some companies are finding Permanent
Solutions or Plastic Alternatives; or encourage children to Write a Letter to a Local MP highlighting the issue.
Click here for the full collection.

Sensitive Issues
Adults are advised to read the entire story before sharing with children, in order to be aware of the content
and the way that the issues are depicted. Teachers may wish to be aware in advance of some of the following
background information:

• The plastic bag is personified as the main ‘character’. It has quite a sad, solitary journey which may evoke
feelings of sadness or isolation.

• You may wish to consider the emotional aspect of animals who may be suffering, although this is not
explicitly shown.

• Some children may feel anxious about the damage being done to the environment or powerless about the
changes that are reported around these kinds of issues on the news. It is recommended that some time is
spent focusing on clean-up operations and possible solutions that we can work towards.

• Illustrations are deliberately powerful. Some of them may appear quite dark in their tone or delivery and may
have hard-hitting inference.

• One of the illustrations depicts a bird which may be injured, dying or having already died. This is not explicitly
referenced and is open to some interpretation.

• Supporting resources may refer to ‘the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, which is depicted in the eBook as a
cloud of colourful microplastic particles. This is separate from the ‘trash island’ shown later in the story.
These floating ‘islands’, as well as ocean garbage patches, may need some further explanation beforehand or
afterwards. See other additional resources (category page) for further support.

• In the story, the plastic bag escapes the ‘trash island’ and makes its way back to the shore, in order to provoke
discussion about how it can be repurposed. It is important that children are aware that much of the plastic in
the ocean will not disappear or return to shore without human intervention; picking up plastic on the beach is
not a sufficient solution to the problem of ocean pollution.

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