Five Printable Board Games to Engage Students in the Health of Our Planet

By Ava Moore | May 6, 2025

Using board games in the classroom can be a great way to get students actively engaged in learning and deepen their understanding of material. Board games encourage important skills like cooperation, following multi-step instructions, strategizing, and good sportsmanship. While there are a ton of excellent educational board games out there, it’s not always feasible to buy multiple board games for an entire class. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five free or low-cost print-and-play games.

Environmental Board Games for Your Classroom

1. Lessons from The Lorax (Grades K-5)

An overhead shot of students playing the K-5 Lessons from the Lorax board game with the game board, playing cards, and resource page.

After listening to The Lorax, students play this eco-board game to replant trees cut down by the Once-ler. Students move around the board collecting resources needed to replant trees (water, soil, sunlight), and trading them when necessary to make the group more successful. Once a player has all three resources, they can plant a tree in the forest grid. But watch out! A lumberjack also moves around the board, impeding the replanting progress. Students must work together to replant the forest before the lumberjack makes it all the way around the board and destroys their forest forever. Population Education, see purchase options here.

2. Dirty Matters: The Soil Game (Grades 3-8)

The printable board and playing cards for Dirty Matters, a game for grades 3-8 on soil health.

The board game Dirty Matters aims to help students become “soil guardians” and understand the relationship between soil health and sustainability. Students play as one of six soil organisms (Nematodes, Actinomycetes, Earthworm, Rhizobia, Mole, or Mycorrhiza Fungi) and each round begins with a human-caused (or exacerbated) event like erosion or pest infection that negatively affects one of the eight important soil properties on the game board. Players must harness the unique abilities of their soil organism and work together to get through six rounds of keeping the Earth’s soil healthy enough to feed our population. Dirty Matters can be configured for 2-6 players and was created through a grant from the British Society of Soil Science to demonstrate how “soil can help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Zero Hunger, Clean Water, Climate Action, and Life on Land.” British Society of Soil Science, download Dirty Matters for free here.

3. Go for the Green (Grades 9-12)

The printable board and playing cards for Go for the Green, a game for grades 9-12 on rainforest management.

The environmental board game Go for the Green is all about rainforest health and management. Can students balance human needs and economic interests with the environmental protection of the ecosystem? As they move around the board, players are presented with different scenarios on Choice cards where environmental health and human needs/interests are in conflict, and the outcome they choose affects their points tally. The scenarios range from being a small business owner sourcing sustainable materials to contemplating a development offer on land you own that is also home to an endangered species. Players also encounter Risk cards that impose a scenario on a player, sometimes related to the player’s current Wealth and Environmental tally. By playing, students learn more about economic interests in rainforests (timber, fragrances, medicine) and balancing the impact these human interests can have on rainforest health (deforestation, species extinction, pollution). Population Education, download Go for the Green for free here.

4. Carbon City Zero: World Edition (Grades 9-12)

The printable board and playing cards for Carbon City Zero, a game for grades 9-12 on the policy decisions behind bringing cities to net zero carbon levels.

This collaborative deck-building game has students explore the complex policy decisions behind bringing carbon levels to net zero – and the consequences of failing. Each player develops a sustainable city by “greening transport, transforming industries, getting citizens on board, and showing world leaders how it’s done.” To mirror the reality of climate change, the game is played against a clock and everyone loses if the goal isn’t met in time. Every player starts with an identical deck and can buy additional cards from a shared marketplace to make their city greener. The cards cover three key sectors (Domestic, Industry, and Government) and each has interests that both align and conflict with the net-zero goal. This version of the game also has a collaborative element: players must work together with other cities to ultimately achieve the collective net-zero goal. Note: the files need to be “purchased” for $0 at the link. Possible (a climate action charity), download Carbon City Zero for free here.

5. What’s at Stake for the Forest (Grades 9-12)

The printable board and playing cards for What’s at Stake for the Forest, a game for grades 9-12 on sustainable forest management.

What’s at Stake for the Forest is a strategy game about sustainable forest management. Students act as different stakeholders with various interests to negotiate the management of a publicly-owned forest. Seven of the Stakeholder Roles are community stakeholders with various priorities (Mayor, Citizen, Conservation Group Representative, etc.) and one is the Development Company, whose priority is to clear-cut the forest, thwart community alliances, and maximize profits. The game board has two tracks – a Cooperation Track and a Development Track. Players must negotiate on their different priorities to pass Agenda Items by a 5-3 vote and advance on the Cooperation Track. If they fail, the Development Company moves forward on the Development Track. The community stakeholders must work together to complete the Cooperation Track and sustainably manage the forest before the Development Company wins. Population Education, see purchase options here.

Print-and-Play Games for the Classroom

These printable board games can be great classroom tools to get students engaged in complex topics about the health of the Earth. Print-and-play games keep the logistics simple for teachers as well – games can be printed immediately and in multiples, ensuring the whole class can play without breaking the bank. For any game that requires dice, there are a ton of electronic dice options available online. Even better, if you’re able to laminate the game pieces, students can use the same game sets for years to come!

Image credits: Dirty Matters: The Soil Game gameboard and cards (By Christina van Midden, Nicolas Beriot, Tanvi Taparia, Michael Löbmann and Emma Burak; Published by the British Society of Soil Science); Carbon City Zero: World Edition gameboard and cards (Designed by Sam Illingworth & Paul Wake; Art by Tony Pickering & Matt Bonner; Published by Possible. Download for free at PNP Arcade)

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