Life and Death in the Forest

Grade Level:  All

Objective:  Students will learn about the role of omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores in an ecosystem.

Getting ready to play

Me--enjoying myself facilitating 

Materials: a large outdoor space, rubber bands, headbands (or bandannas), brightly colored vests or other distinguishing garment, laminated "food" ("fruit", "vegetable") and "water" stations pinned up throughout a dis

Rules:

-The object of the game is to "survive."

-Start the game with about 30% omnivores, 10% carnivores, and 60% herbivores--give the omnivores and carnivores each their own distinguishing "uniform" (in our game, omnivores wore colored headbands and our carnivore wore an orange vest)

-Give the players their "lives" (rubber bands)--omnivores start the game with 4 lives, herbivores start the game with 9 lives, and carnivores start the game with 1 life

-Players acquire more lives by tagging other players.  When a player tags another player he/she gets one of that player's rubber bands.  Carnivores can tag omnivores and herbivores, omnivores can tag herbivores, herbivores can tag no one.  :)

-Players get food and water by tagging the food and water stations.

-In order to "survive" the round herbivores need: 2 water, 4 food, and one life

-In order to "survive" the round omnivores need: 2 water, 2 food, and 9 lives

-In order to "survive" the round carnivores need: 2 water, 0 food, and 9 lives

-Set clear boundaries as to where the players can go--if there are dangerous spots in the boundaries designate them as "walking zones" (we called ours slide alder zones, because you don't want to run through slide alder.)  Release the herbivores first to give them a head start then the omnivore than the carnivore(s)

-Play several rounds, after each round talk about what happened, ask the students how they survived and try to apply the student's survival strategies to what might happen in a "real" ecosystem.  Change roles and ratios after each round.  Throw in variations (like parasites and water pollution) to enrich the conversation.