ZunZun is very active in environmental education. Stephen has worked as a field biologist/ecologist, outdoor guide and
environmental educator for twenty years, and both Stephen and Gwynne consider environmental education a main focus of their work.
Recently they have focused their work on water issues, and have been hired by water districts and environmental organizations
throughout California. A partial list of these organizations is:
ZunZun has just released their first DVD, The Red Bag, a musical DVD about a plastic bag's journey through the watershed. This musical, nonverbal movie is the first in a series that aim to educate and entertain young people about about important environmental issues, especially water.
“ZunZun, in partnership with Alameda County Water District's Stop that Running Toilet Program, was the winner of the 2009 Clair A. Hill Award for Environmental Excellence.”
In April 2004 they were the featured artists for the California Water Educators Conference in San Jose.
All of ZunZun's water shows highlight the connections of their audience to their watershed. As in all of their shows, they incorporate
a variety of instruments (many of Latin American origin), audience participation, and humor for a truly memorable show. Some of the topics they cover in their water
shows are: water conservation, watershed, water reclamation, water pollution, and natural history of aquatic creatures.
All of their shows are created to the specific needs of the organizations that hire them.
Here are outlines of two ZunZun shows, The Musical Watershed and The Water Beat:
The Musical Watershed
The purpose of this show is to familiarize young audiences with the concept of watershed and the importance of watershed in
our lives. The show will cover such topics as conservation, water pollution, habitat and storm drains. The show relies on
audience participation and music throughout the show.
1) Introduction- We introduce the term “Watershed” with an exercise. We have everyone in the room shake their bodies
like a dog would when shedding water from its coat. We explain that water is always moving in many directions just like the
droplets from the dog’s coat, and in fact, is in a constant cycle (we talk about the water cycle here). A watershed is all of
the waterways (droplets from the dog’s coat) connected together.
2) Musical Rainstorm / Water Falls to the Earth– This segment creates a musical rainstorm utilizing instruments from
the Andean Mountains of South America (bombo, charango, chakjas, kena, zampona). The sounds culminate in a song from Peru, which
celebrates the coming of the rains for the planting season “Carnavalito”. We review the water cycle, evaporation, condensation
and precipitation, as this helps tie our watershed show into the Science Standards for the State of California.
3) Water Dance / Watersheds are Defined- We explain that as water falls, it transforms into a variety of ecosystems.
We demonstrate this with a giant piece of blue cloth, which we bring out into the audience. We demonstrate a lake by laying the
cloth on a section of the audience. A river is the cloth passed over a section of the audience as we run. An aquifer is us
pulling the cloth around the feet of the audience in the front row to demonstrate underground waterways. An estuary is us going
back and forth with the cloth, between high and low tides. An ocean is us passing the cloth like waves over the audience while
singing “Surfing USA”.
4) Storm Drain/Our Connection to Watershed, No Matter Where We Are- We demonstrate that no matter where you are, you are
connected to your watershed through storm drains. To define a storm drain, we ask if any of the audience has seen “those square
holes on the playground with metal slates on top”. We demonstrate how pollutants such as car oil, paint, detergent, and
pesticides flow into our watersheds untreated by way of storm drains, which in turn greatly effects the wildlife populations
(demonstrated by some unhappy fish puppets). This segment demonstrates the effects of storm drain pollution throughout the
watershed from stream to ocean by a fisherman who takes three audience members fishing in a local stream, only to catch some
trash (pollution) and a fish covered with oil and paint. We then review washing a car, spraying pesticides and the concept
that “Storm Drain – It’s Only For Rain!”
5) Basura Batucada / Demonstrate How You Can Make A Difference- This segment introduces the ideas of conservation and
pollution prevention in watersheds by utilizing trash found by us within the watershed (the beach and river near our home in
Santa Cruz) to create musical instruments. Objects such as plastic bottles and bags and cans, when thrown into the watershed,
are a hazard to wildlife populations and unsightly as well. We should all try and recycle materials rather than throw them away,
and also make attempts to clean up our surroundings. We demonstrate the Brazilian rhythm of Samba and have audience members come
up and play these rhythms on the found trash items.
6) Low Flow Limbo / More Make A Difference- We talk about water conservation and how our consumption of water can
adversely affect our watershed. We ask the audience questions about water use such as: Is it good to leave water running when
brushing your teeth? Do you have a dripping faucet in your house? Should you water your lawn in the middle of the day when the
sun is out? Should you take a ½ hour shower? Then we discuss how more water consumption for us often means less water for all
the other creatures that share our watershed. We demonstrate this through a limbo song played with steel drums and marimbula
bass, while 8 participants pass under the limbo pole. The first time they pass the pole is high, but with each turn, the pole
gets lower due to poor water conservation efforts. We ask the limbo dancers to imagine they are fish trying to go upstream and
how difficult it gets as waters get lower.
7) Conclusion- We thank the audience, go over the Watershed Watch materials and have the audience dance to a salsa rhythm
as they float out the door with their class while paddling (dancing) to the salsa beat!
The Water Beat
1) Water Around the World: ZunZun plays water instruments from Africa (mbira) South America (rain stick) United States (spring drum) and Asia (wave maker). Two students are then invited on stage to play water instruments.
2) Water Dances: Assembly hall is divided in to three groups, one side of room group “a”, other side group “b” and teachers are group “c”. We introduce three different dances, then one of three groups stands up to do them. The dances are: the Sprinkler, the Swimmer, and the Washing Machine. After each dance everyone sits down, and we say how to save water, with “a sprinkler”, by not “swimming” in an over-filled tub, or not filling up “a washing machine”. Congas and flute are used for music.
3) Save Some Water Dance: Everyone joins in a call and response song with movements: “Save some water, when you wash your hair” (5 min,. shower) “When you brush your teeth” (turn off water while brushing) “When you clean your socks” (fill washer before running!). “Stop the drip” (turn drippy faucets all the way off) “Fix the leak” (Get broken faucets fixed with a wrench and washers) “Sprinklers off, If it rains that week” (Or during the whole rainy season). Kids sing the song back in call and response as they do dances, and the song gets faster and faster in a covert effort to repeat the information lots of times! Ukulele is used for music.
4) Toilet Game Show: We introduce the idea that flushing the toilet is the single greatest use of water in a home, but one out of five toilets leak. We choose contestants from the audience and they select toilet 1, 2 or 3. Under each toilet lid is either a good idea for saving water with a toilet (I never flush trash down the toilet) or a bad one (I have a leaky toilet). We then explain packets every student will take home to test if their toilet is leaking. Accordion is used for music and the game show “theme song” called “Flush”.
5) Draught Limbo-using instruments from the Caribbean, we discuss the realities of drought in Marin County with a limbo dance. Water levels fall in the Russian river and Marin county reservoirs as rainfall decreases (limbo pole lowers). Less water in our watershed means more conservation efforts necessary. Students dance the limbo and help to create varying degrees of rainfall with rain sticks.
6) How much water do we use? Using percussion instruments from Brazil we demonstrate the amount of water used per person in an average household (60 gallons?) in Marin County. Students hold up 60 gallons of water (paper cut-outs attached with a string), which gives a visual of what this looks like-visual covers a large part of auditorium.
7) Saving water game show - In this segment, we have teachers participate in a game show where they read a prepared card, and the students decide if the information on the card is good for the watershed or not. We will include facts about Mt. Tam and it’s resources and benefits to Marin County. Two students are invited on stage to make sound effects. Teachers win prizes (giveaways from Marin Municipal Water District)
8) Last Activity: For older grades we do the bottled water numbers game and show how many plastic bottles are not recycled every hour in the US. Kids come up and hold a number. First we see 250, but we keep adding another kid holding a zero, until we reach the true number (2,500,000). We also show it takes 5 bottles of water to make one bottle of water (make the bottle, make the label transport, etc.). Then we say how tap water is clean and fresh to drink and show reuseable bottles for drinking tap water. Brazilian instruments used for music. Younger grades who do not do place value up to the millions get to see a drought limbo. Steel pan and marimbula are used for music.
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