Lights off: A game for kids.

Last week, my son and I watched Chasing Coral, a documentary about the coral bleaching events currently happening around the world. My son has watched a great many of the shows I’ve looked at, but this one hit home for him.

He was shocked that coral was disappearing, and that he may never get a chance to see them. I admit, I was a little bit surprised that this concerned him so much since he’s never so much as wanted to step foot in the ocean when we head to the beach.

We talked about climate change, and what it meant, and how the stuff we do at home helps to fight climate change. I also mentioned that turning off the lights (which he isn’t good at) can also help.

That’s when I got an idea on helping him remember to turn off the lights–one that would be good for me too, as I’m not exactly great about turning off lights myself.

The Light Game

The next day, 6 tokens from one of our games were laying on the kitchen counter. My son, naturally, wanted to know what they were for.

“We’re going to play a game to help us turn off the lights,” I said. “If you catch me leaving the lights on, you get to take one of my tokens. If I catch you, I get to take yours. The one with the most at the end wins a prize!”

Well the battle was on. We quickly learned the first day, dad is not allowed to play because he never, ever leaves the lights on. Ever.

The first day my son lost, but the next two days he won. Not only did the light game help keep both of us on our toes and make the day more fun, it also benefited the planet by lowering the amount of electricity we use.

We still play the game every few days, but even when we’re not playing the game, we don’t leave the lights on anymore.