Oh Deer! A game to learn about limiting factors

Information to know before we start:

• What are the most important things that animals need to survive? – Food– Shelter– Space– Water

• In today’s game we will be learning about three of these: food, shelter and water

Game rules• I will divide you up into 4 groups – numbered 1, 2, 3, or 4 • When we go outside, all 1s should stand together on one side

of a line and the rest of 2,3 and 4 will stand together in one group on the other side of a line

• 1s are deer, and 2,3 and 4 will be the different parts of the habitat (food, water or shelter) that an animal needs to survive

• Each part of the habitat has a special symbol: PRACTICE– Food – hands on stomach– Water – hands over mouth– Shelter – hands over head like a point / upside -down v – shape

*When we get outside to the plaza by the library, I will show you where to stand

Game rules continued…• The goal is for the deer to get the ‘resource’ they need to

survive: MATCHING– The deer must run to the other side and match up with the habitat

part they are looking for. You must high-five when you match-up. – After high-fiving, run back to the deer side with your resource. The

habitat person becomes a deer.– Do not tell anyone what resource you are looking for.

– If a deer cannot find a matching partner, it ‘dies’ and they are recycled to become part of the habitat group

Each round I will be keeping track of the number of deer that are still ‘alive’, so we can create a graph of our results and see the changes in the deer population

We are going to play about 10 - 15 rounds

Changes to deer population 8A

Changes to Deer Population 8B

Finally…what happened?Answer these questions as your Science Journal for today:1) From the game, what are some limiting factors that may affect the population?

2) Do wildlife populations stay the same or do they fluctuate (change a lot)?

3) What do you think would have happened if I introduced a ‘disease’ (someone that could catch you when trying to run back to your deer side) ?