Decomposition Tag

Introduce the life cycle and the role of decomposers in nature and in composting.
One participant will play the character “death” and wears a dark colored armband.
Two to five participants are decomposer characters and wear light colored armbands. As a general rule, 1/5 of the class should be decomposers. All other participants are plants or animals.
Plant and animal characters “die” when they are tagged by the death character.
When tagged, they freeze in place until one of the decomposers unfreezes them by walking around them three times.
The game has no natural end. You should let participants play long enough to experience the concept.
To summarize, form a circle and review the life cycle and the role of decomposers.
Encourage students to talk about how they felt during the game, and what they learned.