Oh Deer! Predators!

Grade Level: Elementary

Objective:  Students will learn about habitats, predators, prey, and their adaptations kinesthetically through a series of games.

Materials:  Hula hoops, extra players.

Game 1:  Oh Deer!

Objective-Students will learn the limiting factors of a habitat and see how resource amounts effect population.

Steps-

1-Choose a small number of students to be deer.  Ask the students what deer need in their habitat to survive.  Talk about food, water, shelter, and space (the limiting factors of a habitat)

2-Have the rest of the students pretend to be resources.

3-Line the resources up parallel to the deer so that there are two lines (one of deer, one of resources) facing each other.

4-Give both groups hand motions for food, water, shelter, and space.  Explain to the deer that they will be seeking one of these habitat requirements and that they will signal which limiting factor they are seeking. Explain to the resources that they will be pretending to be one of these limiting factors and that they will signal what they are.  Explain to both groups that they should not chose or signal before you tell them.

5-Have both lines turn around so that the deer and resources have their backs to each other.  Tell them to chose a resource.  Explain that when you say "Oh Deer!"  they should turn around.  At that point the deer will walk toward the resource whose signal matches and bring him/her back to the deer line (What happens when animals meet their habitat requirements?--They reproduce!)

6-Play several rounds, chart the results.  At some point there will not be enough resources to meet the needs of the deer.  Deer who cannot find the resource they need can enact an "epic death scene" and decompose, joining the resource line.

7-Use the game to talk about habitat limiting factors and populations.  Propose various scenarios (drought, forest fire, famine) and ask the students how those scenarios would effect the deer population. Look for trends on the chart you've been creating and ask the students how population effects resources and habitat.

Game 2: Predators

Steps:

1-Find a flat open area.  Set up around half a dozen hula hoops, create a start line and a finish line.  Put about a dozen bean bags near the finish line.

2-Divide the students into deer and wolves (or two other such predator/prey relevant to your ecosystem)

3-Set ground rules and objectives.  The wolves are trying to eat the deer.  The deer are trying to gather food from the finish line then get back to the start without being eaten.  Wolves are trying to eat (tag) the deer.  Decide the amount of food the deer need to gather and the amount of deer the wolves need to eat to survive based on the size of the group.  When the deer are in the hula hoops they are camouflaged in thickets and therefore safe.  When the deer freeze, they are safe. (Ask the students why freezing is a good adaptation for deer--why is it more difficult to see an animal that isn't moving?)

4-Start playing!  Use the game to start a conversation about predator/prey relationships, adaptations, and strategies.  Use the students ideas and the results of the game to guide learning.  Play more than one round if possible.

Washington State Content Areas Covered:

-EALR 1: Systems

-EALR 4: Life Cycles