1. Tell students that you are going outdoors to play the Animal Game. A flurry of enthusiasm may ensue!

2. Outdoors, walk students around the game boundaries, pointing out any hazards in the area. Then have students sit and ask them to listen to all of the instructions before beginning the game (due to student excitement level, you may wish to answer questions only at the end).

3. Introduce the following characters one at a time. Refer to Table 1 as you describe the goals of each organism (character) and who they chase and are chased by in the game. Show each of the four cards types to the group, and emphasize that they must collect as many cards as possible to survive.

4. After you’ve described the roles, hand out character cards (refer to Table 2 for suggestions on the numbers of different cards to make). As in most ecosystems, there area far more producers than herbivores, far more herbivores than carnivores, etc. You may wish to punch a hole in each card and insert a stout elastic band, thereby allowing cards to be worn on students’ arms (have them attach it above their elbow).

5. As teacher you will play the role of sun – ‘the giver of all life’ (!) Rather than having a steadily growing pile of dead students, you can give these students a second lease on life by issuing them another card. You may even experiment with the ecosystem by increasing the number of carnivores and decomposers!

6. Answer any questions, tell students approximately how long the game will last (try 10-20 minutes, depending on the age group), tell students to listen for your signal that will end the game, and begin! Give the producers a 10 second head start, followed by herbivores, etc.

To begin, ask students to count the cards that they have. You may wish to establish a cutoff point (i.e. any surviving herbivores with less than 5 producer cards is deemed to have died of starvation).

This activity is very rich in that many ecological concepts can be explored with students!

Some sample questions to promote discussion:

• What did you feel when you played the game. Is this how a wild animal might feel?
• What strategies did you use to avoid being caught? Do plants or animals use these strategies?
• What strategies did you use to catch other students? Do plants or animals use these strategies?
• If humans were introduced to this game, what rules would you give them? What about disease? What about famine?

Extension

Have students write about their experience. What would life be like as a herbivore, etc.?