Learning Outdoors!

Today was a great day.  We played a game we called Gopher, but the game goes by many different names including Oh Deer, Animal and Habitat, and many other names depending on the animal used.

How to Play

1. The class is divided in half (Animal Group and Habitat Group)
2. They line up in two separate lines with a few feet between them and turn their backs to each other
3. Each team is instructed to choose (The individuals in the animal group chooses what they want, the individuals in the Habitat Group choose what they want to be)
1. Our options were Shelter, Water, Food, and Space
4. When the teacher says so, both lines turn around and face each other, and the animals must find an individual in the habitat group that matches their need.
5. Not everyone’s need will be met or used.  The animals who did not match with someone on the Habitat line are now a member of the habitat group while the animals who did match with a habitat person take that person back to their line and they are an animal for the next round.
6. The teacher or a student volunteer will count after each round the animal “population”, and will eventually make a graph plotting the rise and fall of the population.
7. This game can continue for as short or as long as wanted.
8. At the end a class discussion can occur with the presentation of the graph.  Students can discuss why there are ups and downs in the graph and what their experience was being an animal and not matching up.  This activity will provide students with the ability to experience what happens to animals when their needs are not met and the impacts that could have on an entire ecosystem and the food chain.

Photo retrieved from:http://www.free-extras.com/images/gopher-8187.htm

This activity demonstrates how to make a graph and show the various interactions within an ecosystem and how limited resources influence population sizes.

            Shows that we cannot control what resources are available to use and that resources may not always be available if we need them.

            Depending on the grade level of the students playing this game could be altered by adding more variables, such as a hunter or an environmental disaster or even human impacts. This activity can show the students what impact the things they do in their lives can have on animals and the environment around where they live.