Find a good hiding spot so you don’t get eaten by a bigger fish!

PURPOSE

In this game of camouflage, participants will learn about basic animal needs and discover why trout build redds (nests) to lay their eggs.

RECOMMENDED GRADES

Grades K-8

TIME NEEDED

20 minutes

Curriculum CONNECTIONS

Matter & Energy (K, Grade 3)

Earth Systems (K, Grade 1, 3-6)

Living Systems (Grade 1-3)

Interactions & Ecosystems (Grade 7)

Fresh Water and Salt Water Ecosystems (Grade 8)

MATERIALS NEEDED

AV equipment to show a short video.
A natural space with hiding spots.

Instructions

Discuss what trout need to survive (water, food, space, shelter).
Learn more about these needs here: Healthy Trout Habitats
Discuss native trout species, their lifecycle, and the building of redds (more information can be found in the activities linked above).
In this game, participants will be playing as bull trout eggs hiding in their redd. Another native species, mountain whitefish, are also carnivores/consumers. They have small mouths and mainly eat small prey including aquatic insects, mollusks, fish eggs, and fry (baby fish). In this game of camouflage, the mountain whitefish will be eating the bull trout eggs.
Designate 1-3 people as mountain whitefish (predators) and everyone else as an egg.
Make a game playing area (adults stand on boundaries facing in).
The eggs go into a designated area to hide as the whitefish close their eyes and count down from 30.
After counting, the mountain whitefish open their eyes and look for eggs (prey). If they see someone, they can call out the person’s name/color of clothing.
When the instructor says “habitat freeze please” the predators close their eyes. Give a threat to the habitat (drought, habitat loss, pollution, climate change, etc.) and the boundaries (adults) move in a certain number of steps. For older age groups, sub in participants that have been caught to identify and call out habitat threats.
The eggs have to find a new hiding spot within the new boundaries in a certain number of seconds (5/10/15/20, etc.)
With each new boundary reduction, you decrease the amount of time they have to hide. The whitefish count down with their eyes closed and open them when they finish counting.
The game ends when most or everyone is caught.

Discussion:

Discuss why trout build redds and why they lay so many eggs. Do all the eggs hatch and survive to adulthood?

Review the ways that humans can positively and negatively impact native trout. The resources below dive deeper into these topics.

Extensions:

Learn more about threats to native trout in this short video: Threats to Alberta's Native Trout - YouTube.

Learn more about healthy trout habitat with this short video: Native Trout are an Indicator of Watershed Health.

Discover ways that anglers, ranchers, off highway vehicle (OHV) users, hikers, and campers can support native trout recovery through our interactive tool Stand Up For Alberta's Native Trout. Dive in deeper with Stories from the River.

Learn about the Alberta Native Trout Collaborative's efforts to rehabilitate native trout habit with this StoryMap: Rehabilitating Native Trout Habitat in Alberta.

Detailed Curriculum Connection

Matter & Energy
- Explore properties of various objects using one or more of the five senses. (Matter)
- Observe and imitate how animals move. (Energy)
- Examine the reasons why humans and other animals move. (Energy)

Earth Systems
- Environments include land, water, and air.
- Examine and describe surrounding environment.
- Understand that environments change over time (temperature, sunlight, human-made structures, animals growing, plants growing).

Earth Systems
- Investigate animal behaviour throughout the seasons, including migration and hibernation.
- Describe various environments by drawing from information gathered with the senses
- Identify personal and group actions that demonstrate responsibility and care for nature.

Living Systems
- Share examples of plants and animals native to Alberta and Canada.
- Determine how a local environment meets the basic needs of plants and animals.
- Discuss the movement of local animals from place to place to meet their needs.

Earth Systems
- Discuss how the various components of Earth (land, water, air, plants, humans, and other animals) interact to support life.
- Identify bodies of water on Earth that contain fresh water.

Living Systems
- Discuss how the various components of Earth (land, water, air, plants, humans, and other animals) interact to support life.
- Explain positive and negative impacts of human behaviour on plants and animals.
- First Nations, Métis, and Inuit relate to land, plants, and animals as equals. Discuss how humans might interact with land, plants, and animals if they see land, plants, and animals as equals. 
- Identify ways in which people show care for land, plants, and animals through cultural practices.

Matter
- Discuss ways to respect water in local environments.
Earth Systems
- Discuss the interconnectedness between human activities and responsibilities for maintaining Earth.
Living Systems
- Represent various food chains in local and other Canadian environments.
- Classify animals in a food chain as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.
- Investigate and discuss how plants and animals respond to stimuli in their environments in order to survive.
- Reflect on and share actions that can be taken to protect plants and animals in local environments.
- Explain interconnections in environments, including how plants depend on animals and how animals depend on plants to survive.
- Discuss First Nations, Métis, and Inuit connection with environments and their knowledge of and relationships with plants and animals.

Earth Systems:
- Discuss ways that plants and animals use water to meet their basic needs.
- Make connections between human activity and Earth’s systems.
- Discuss ways that plants and animals use water to meet their basic needs.
- Identify plants and animals that exist in various bodies of water.
- Demonstrate respect for water in the local environment.
- Discuss the importance of water to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
- Investigate conservation practices in natural and human-made areas.
- Discuss the interconnectedness between human use of parks and conservation practices.
- Describe examples of personal actions that contribute to conservation in daily life.

Earth Systems:
- Relate impacts of natural processes and human activities on climate change.
- Discuss how scientists, Elders, and traditional Knowledge Keepers can collaborate to develop deeper awareness of the effects of weather on people and environments.
- Describe possible effects of climate change on land, plants, humans, and other animals.
- Identify personal actions that may affect global climate change.

Interactions and Ecosystems
- 1: Investigate and describe relationships between humans and their environments, and identify related issues and scientific questions.
  - Illustrate how life-supporting environments meet the needs of living things for nutrients, energy sources, moisture, suitable habitat, and exchange of gases.
  - Describe examples of interaction and interdependency within an ecosystem.
  - Identify examples of human impacts on ecosystems, and investigate and analyze the link between these impacts and the human wants and needs that give rise to them.
  - Analyze personal and public decisions that involve consideration of environmental impacts, and identify needs for scientific knowledge that can inform those decisions .

- 2: Trace and interpret the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem.
  - Analyze an ecosystem to identify biotic and abiotic components, and describe interactions among these components
  - Analyze ecosystems to identify producers, consumers and decomposers; and describe how energy is supplied to and flows through a food web

Unit E: Fresh Water & Salt Water Ecosystems
- - Investigate life forms found in fresh water and salt water, and identify and interpret examples of adaptations to these environments.
  - Analyze relationships between water quality and living things, and infer the quality of water based on the diversity of life supported by it. 3.Analyze factors affecting productivity and species distribution in freshwater environments.

- 4.Analyze human impacts on aquatic systems; and identify the roles of science and technology in addressing related questions, problems and issues.
  - Analyze human water uses, and identify the nature and scope of impacts resulting from different uses.
  - Identify current practices and technologies that affect water quality, evaluate environmental costs and benefits, and identify and evaluate alternatives.
  - Illustrate the role of scientific research in monitoring environments and supporting development of appropriate environmental technologies.
  - Engage in current affairs, issues and concerns of a local nature.