Wave Wardens: Teacher Guide
WaveWardens.net
A free browser game about tsunami science and safety for grade 3 and up (about age 8+). Works on phones, tablets and Chromebooks.
Play the game · WaveWardens.net home
Classroom safe: no login, no ads, no chat, no in-app purchases, and no personal data collected. Progress is stored only in the browser on that device. The game uses cartoon animal "critters" and never shows people being harmed.
How a round works (about 3-5 minutes each)
- Wave Forecast: students watch the tsunami hit the island with no defenses. Captions explain each stage (earthquake, drawback, shoaling, landfall). The result is shown as a red inundation map.
- Build (3 minutes, can start early for bonus points): using the flood map, students place dunes, sea walls, mangroves and evacuation towers on a coin budget.
- Warning Signs quiz: students pick the real tsunami warning signs from a random set that includes decoys. Cards are drawn from 23 (9 real signs and 14 decoys) every round. Easy shows 4-5 cards, Normal 6-7, and Hard 8-9. The wave runs in slow motion while the quiz is open, and getting it perfect earns the "Sign Spotter" star.
- Wave + Evacuation: the water is a real (simplified) shallow-water simulation. Students tap homes to send critters to high ground.
- Test Wave: during building, students can run the wave against their own design. The build timer keeps running, so they must decide when to test and when to improve, just like real engineers.
- Results: three stars, one each for every critter safe, most homes kept dry (half on Easy, 60% on Normal, 75% on Hard), and a perfect warning-signs quiz, plus a Wave Fact. Easy, Normal and Hard difficulty settings let students pick their challenge.
Islands and concepts
| Island | Main concept | New tool |
|---|
| 1. Shell Bay | What a tsunami is. The sea pulling back is a warning sign. Go to high ground. | Sand dunes, sea walls, escape paths, warning sirens |
| 2. Mangrove Cove | Wave speed depends on depth. Waves slow down and grow taller in shallow water (shoaling). | Breakwaters, coral reefs, mangroves (offshore and nature-based defenses) |
| 3. Flatfish Key | Tsunamis come as a series of waves. The first is often not the largest. Vertical evacuation. | Houses on stilts, evacuation towers |
| 4. Otter River | Tsunamis travel up rivers, far inland. | All tools from here on (some islands hold a few back) |
| 5. Shelter Isle | Wave refraction around offshore islands. | |
| 6. Funnel Bay | Narrow bays squeeze waves taller. | |
| 7. Lagoon Atoll | Barrier reefs and sandbars absorb wave energy. | |
| 8. Cliffside Cove | Run-up height on land. | |
| 9. Faraway Shores | Distant tsunamis: no shaking, rely on official warnings. | |
| 10. Megaquake Coast | Earthquake size and tsunami size. Final review. | |
| Final: Coral City | Layered defense across a large city (16 homes, 3 waves). | All tools, large budget |
Standards connections (NGSS)
- 4-ESS3-2: Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions).
- 4-PS4-1: Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength.
- 3-5-ETS1-1 to 1-3: Define a simple design problem, compare solutions, and plan fair tests to improve a design.
- MS-ESS3-2: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
- MS-PS4-1: Use mathematical representations to describe a simple model for waves that includes how the amplitude of a wave is related to the energy in a wave.
- MS-ETS1-1 to 1-4: Define a design problem, evaluate competing design solutions, and iteratively test and modify a design.
The science in the simulation
Water in the game moves according to the shallow-water equations, the same family of equations real tsunami models use. Because wave speed is about the square root of (gravity x depth), the wave travels fast over deep water and slows down near shore, where it piles up taller. Walls block the flow but water can go around them. Mangroves add friction, and dunes can erode when fast water runs over them. Heights and distances are simplified and not to scale.
Wave Lab (sandbox)
From the title screen, Wave Lab offers free building on any island and wave sizes from Small to MEGA. After each launch it reports homes flooded and flooded land area compared with the previous launch. Try a controlled experiment: change one defense at a time and compare.
Discussion questions
- Why did the sea pull back before the big wave arrived? What should you do if you see that?
- Compare the defenses you used. Which worked best on each island, and what were the trade-offs (cost, erosion, water flowing around the ends)?
- Why might an evacuation tower be a better plan than a sea wall on a flat island?
- The forecast showed an inundation map. How could a real town use maps like this?
- You feel a strong earthquake while at the beach. There is no siren yet. What do you do, and why?
Credits
Game sound effects for buttons and actions: Kenney (CC0 public domain). Nature sounds, art, 3D models and the water simulation were made for Wave Wardens.
Extension ideas
- Have students sketch their island defenses before building, predict the outcome, then compare with the result.
- Research a real event (2004 Indian Ocean, 2011 Japan) and discuss warning signs and evacuation.
- Look up your region's tsunami or flood hazard maps and evacuation routes.