What you will learn
- Tell land, air and water pollution apart with examples.
- Explain how each kind harms living things.
- Choose simple actions that reduce pollution and say why they matter.
Pollution is harmful material added to the land, the air or the water. A wrapper on the ground is land pollution. Smoke from burning rubbish is air pollution. Oil, sewage or plastic in a river or the sea is water pollution. The same plastic object can become more than one kind if it is burned or washed into a drain.
Standard 3 asks you to judge the effects and to argue for reducing pollution. The photograph shows a beach covered with plastic. It was taken in Accra, Ghana, not in Trinidad. The problem is the same one we see on our own coasts: animals can eat the plastic or become tangled, and people lose a clean place to fish and swim.
Three places pollution goes
Land pollution includes litter, dumps, and waste left in a yard or a forest. It can cut animals, block drains and make soil unfit for a garden.
Air pollution includes smoke from burning rubbish, exhaust from many vehicles, and dust from a bare construction site. You see it and sometimes you smell it. It can make breathing harder.
Water pollution includes sewage, oil, soap suds poured into a river, farm chemicals, and plastic that washes out to sea. It harms fish, crabs and birds, and it can make water unsafe to drink or swim in.
Worked example 1
A family burns plastic bottles, and the smoke blows across the yard. Later, rain washes the ash and leftover bits into a drain. Which kinds of pollution happened?
Show me how
Burning made air pollution, the smoke.
Leftover bits on the ground are land pollution.
Waste washed into the drain can become water pollution. One action caused three kinds.
Effects on living things
On land, animals can swallow wrappers or cut their feet. Plants may not grow in soil full of oil or rubbish. Drains blocked by litter flood a road when rain comes.
In the air, smoke irritates eyes and lungs. Children with asthma can suffer more on a smoky day. Soot settles on leaves and houses.
In the water, fish and crabs can die in oily or soapy water. A bird can tangle in fishing line. A turtle or a fish can mistake plastic for food. People who eat those animals, or who drink dirty water, can be harmed too. Pollution moves through the food webs you have just studied.
Worked example 2
Use a food web to explain one harm from plastic in the sea.
Show me how
A small animal eats a bit of plastic, or a fish is tangled.
A larger animal eats the small one, or loses that food if the small ones die.
The harm does not stay on one animal. It can travel along the arrows.
Reduce it, and say why
Simple strategies: put litter in a bin, reuse a bottle, do not burn plastic, pour oil and paint at a proper collection point and never down a drain, and join a clean-up with an adult and gloves. Tell an adult about a spill you did not cause. Do not pick up broken glass, needles or unknown chemicals yourself.
Why reduce pollution? Living things share the land, the air and the water. We cannot stand outside that sharing. A wetland, a reef and a yard all fail if the water or the air is poisoned. Reducing pollution protects health, food and the places named in the habitat lesson.
An argument needs a reason, not only a slogan. “Do not burn plastic, because the smoke is air pollution and the leftovers can wash into the sea” is stronger than “littering is bad”.
Investigate, with an adult
Materials. Gloves an adult provides, a bag, and a short walk on your own street. No beach glass and no drains.
Steps. With an adult, list the litter you can see without picking up anything sharp. Sort the list into land pollution you can see, and items that rain could carry into a drain. Choose one family habit to change this week, such as keeping a bag in the car.
Safety. Do not pick up broken glass, medical waste or anything you cannot name. Do not enter a drain or flood water. Wash hands afterwards. If you smell a strong chemical or see oil, leave it and tell an adult.
Watch out! A common mistake
A common mistake is to call only plastic bags pollution. Smoke, oil, sewage and burnt rubbish count too. Another mistake is to clean up by burning the litter. Burning can trade land pollution for air pollution.
Try it
TRY ITPollution lab
Let’s practise
Work each one in your copybook. Open Hint if you are stuck, then open Show answer to check.
1. Give one example each of land, air and water pollution.
Hint
Wrapper, smoke and oil are enough.
Show answer
Litter on the ground, smoke from burning rubbish, and oil in a river.
2. How can one plastic bottle cause more than one kind of pollution?
Hint
Think of burning and of rain.
Show answer
Left on the ground it is land pollution. If it is burned it makes air pollution. If rain washes it into a drain it can become water pollution.
3. Explain one way plastic in the sea harms a food web.
Hint
Start with one animal.
Show answer
A fish may eat plastic or die in tangled line. Animals that eat that fish then lose a food or swallow the plastic too.
4. Why is burning litter a poor clean-up?
Hint
Look at the air.
Show answer
The smoke is air pollution, and ash and scraps can remain.
5. Why should used oil never go down a drain?
Hint
The drain leads somewhere.
Show answer
The oil reaches rivers or the sea and pollutes the water.
6. Write a two-sentence argument for reducing pollution.
Hint
The second sentence should give a reason.
Show answer
We should reduce pollution. Smoke, litter and dirty water harm people, animals and the places they share.
7. List two safe ways a family can reduce pollution this week.
Hint
Reuse and a bin both count.
Show answer
Reuse bottles and put litter in a bin. Do not burn plastic.
8. What should a child do about broken glass on a beach?
Hint
Do not be the person who grabs it.
Show answer
Leave it, and tell an adult. Do not pick it up.
Quiz
Lesson quiz: 10 questions
Answer every question, then press Check my answers. Score 8 or more to earn the Pollution Pro badge.
Pollution of Land, Air and Water: worksheet
Name: ____________________ Date: ______________
Part A: Let’s practise
1. Give one example each of land, air and water pollution.
2. How can one plastic bottle cause more than one kind of pollution?
3. Explain one way plastic in the sea harms a food web.
4. Why is burning litter a poor clean-up?
5. Why should used oil never go down a drain?
6. Write a two-sentence argument for reducing pollution.
7. List two safe ways a family can reduce pollution this week.
8. What should a child do about broken glass on a beach?
Part B: Quiz
1. Smoke from burning rubbish is
(a) air pollution
(b) only land pollution
(c) a fossil fuel
(d) a producer
2. Oil poured into a river is
(a) water pollution
(b) a solar panel
(c) a sepal
(d) a native food chain
3. Wrappers in the yard are
(a) land pollution
(b) the Celsius scale
(c) a pupa
(d) a stigma
4. Burning plastic is a good way to make litter disappear.
True or False? Circle one: True / False
5. Plastic in the sea can
(a) be eaten by animals or tangle them
(b) turn into mangrove trees overnight
(c) clean the water
(d) become a thermometer
6. A blocked drain shows how land litter can
(a) lead to floods
(b) create a new sun
(c) end all tides forever
(d) label a flower
7. The safest response to oil on a river is
(a) tell an adult and do not touch it
(b) stir it with your hands
(c) taste it
(d) add more oil
8. People and animals share the same air and water.
True or False? Circle one: True / False
9. Which pair both reduce pollution?
(a) Bin litter and reuse a bottle
(b) Burn plastic and pour oil down a drain
(c) Bury glass in the sand and swim in a spill
(d) Kick litter into the sea and burn the bag
10. The beach photograph from Ghana is useful because
(a) it shows a plastic problem that also reaches our coasts
(b) it shows a Trinidad school
(c) it shows a solar panel
(d) it shows a life cycle
Answers (for the adult)
Part A
1. Litter on the ground, smoke from burning rubbish, and oil in a river.
2. Left on the ground it is land pollution. If it is burned it makes air pollution. If rain washes it into a drain it can become water pollution.
3. A fish may eat plastic or die in tangled line. Animals that eat that fish then lose a food or swallow the plastic too.
4. The smoke is air pollution, and ash and scraps can remain.
5. The oil reaches rivers or the sea and pollutes the water.
6. We should reduce pollution. Smoke, litter and dirty water harm people, animals and the places they share.
7. Reuse bottles and put litter in a bin. Do not burn plastic.
8. Leave it, and tell an adult. Do not pick it up.
Part B
1. (a) air pollution
2. (a) water pollution
3. (a) land pollution
4. False
5. (a) be eaten by animals or tangle them
6. (a) lead to floods
7. (a) tell an adult and do not touch it
8. True
9. (a) Bin litter and reuse a bottle
10. (a) it shows a plastic problem that also reaches our coasts
Recap
- Land, air and water pollution are named by where the harm is.
- One object can cause more than one kind if it is burned or washed away.
- Effects include hurt lungs, flooded drains, and animals harmed in food webs.
- Reduce pollution by binning, reusing, and never burning plastic or pouring oil into drains.
- Children report spills and glass. They do not pick up dangerous waste.
Words to know
- pollution
- Harmful material in the land, the air or the water.
Example: Smoke is air pollution. - litter
- Rubbish left in the wrong place.
Example: A wrapper in the yard is litter. - sewage
- Waste water from homes that can pollute rivers if it leaks out.
Example: Sewage in a river is water pollution. - reduce
- Make less of something.
Example: Reusing a bottle helps reduce plastic waste. - spill
- A sudden release of oil or another harmful liquid.
Example: Tell an adult about an oil spill.
Try it at home
- With an adult, walk your street and make two lists: litter on land, and places where rain could carry it into a drain. Change one family habit this week.
- Keep a bag in the car for rubbish so wrappers do not leave the window.
Test tips
Tips for class tests
- Say the place: land, air or water.
- If the question says burn, the result is air pollution.
- A strong answer gives an action and a reason.
For parents and teachers
After this lesson, your child should be able to:
- Sort examples into land, air and water, including one that moves from land to water.
- Explain one food-web effect and one health effect.
- Choose safe family actions and supervise any clean-up. No glass, drains or burning.
The photograph is from Accra, Ghana, by Muntaka Chasant, and is used because it shows beach plastic clearly. Please tell children the place is not Trinidad, and that our own coasts have the same problem. Do not organise an unsupervised clean-up. Broken glass, medical waste, flood water and chemical smells are stop-and-tell situations.
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Previous: Solar Energy and Fossil Fuels
Next: Standard 3 Science
Course: Standard 3 Science
Updates
2026/11/07
– Published this lesson and linked the previous and next lessons.
– First draft of this Science lesson, with two hands-on activities, practice, a quiz badge, a worksheet and credited pictures.
Attributions to media used in this post:
Beach plastic photo by Muntaka Chasant, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The beach is in Accra, Ghana. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plastic_Pollution_in_Ghana.jpg
© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.