In this activity, your class will be designing a placemat that will educate about energy and NNE. Making energy placemats is a creative and educational activity for all students.

TO BEGIN:

Decide what you and your class wants people to learn about energy from your placemat. Some things you might consider are:

• Renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.
• The major energy sources used to generate electricity in the U.S.
• Four ways to save energy at home.
• Three historical facts about energy.

Now you are ready to design the placemats. Let each student design their own. To make the placemat fun and informative, choose a variety of activities such as crossword puzzles, jumbles, find-a-words, and trivia (Energy’s Believe-It-Or-Not) Encourage students to use plenty of colors and pictures. When designing the placemats, keep in mind that it should be attractive and informative.l

Then, laminate the placemats so that the students can use them at home.

A variation to this activity is to contact local restaurants to see if they will use the placemats for a given period of time.. (You may need to have some kind of contest to decide on just a few designs for the restaurants to choose from.) If you are doing this variation, be sure that there is room for either the printer (who prints the placemats for use) or restaurant’s sponsorship. You may need to find outside sponsors to finance the printing of the placemats. Explain to the potential restaurants and sponsors what NEED is, and what you are trying to accomplish. Also, show them sample placemats. Be sure to find out how many placemats the restaurant will need, and print a few extra for your students, and for examples for future years. When the placemats are put into use at the restaurant, be sure to take pictures, and encourage your students to go see their work, and support the restaurant.