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| Free Time Games | |
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Iganyana Bush Camp FREE TIME GAMES Optional educational conservation games for children to play during free time Low-Energy Games (These games are good for rainy days, or as the last activity to wind down for a meal or an educational activity.)
Teaches students how bats hunt mosquitoes and the beneficial role they play. Bats use sonar to catch flying prey in the dark. Explain that bats make an inaudible sound so high pitched that only they can hear it. The sound waves bounce off any prey flying ahead and come back to the ears of the bat, telling the bat where the prey is. Choose one student to be the bat. Of the rest of the students, about half should play mosquitoes and half play the trees in the forest that form the perimeter of the circular playing field. These students stand still and quietly. If any bat or moth strays toward the perimeter, the nearest student quietly says "tree" and gently turns them around toward the centre. The bat and all the moths are blindfolded (because it is night time). Whenever the bat says "ping", the mosquitoes must also say "ping." When a moth is tagged, it takes off its blindfold and steps outside the circle. The last mosquito left may play the bat in the next round. All the trees become moths and the dead moths become trees. High Energy Games (These games are very active. They involve running and chasing. These games are good when the students are full of energy that they need to expend to prevent them getting into mischief. All of them must be played on the ground.)
This game teaches children about predator-prey relationships in Hwange. Split the group in half to form two teams in lines facing each other about 3 metres apart. Explain the playing field. Choose landmarks for the two safety zones at each end, or draw a line in the sand. The playing field should look something like this:
Stand in the middle to one side. Tell the children that you will assign each team an animal identity for each round. Once you give the second team their identity, the predator immediately begins to chase the prey. If they tag a prey team member, that person joins the other team for the next round. Therefore, student may switch teams many times. If ever one team is completely absorbed by the other, the game is over.
this is a good concept review game played toward the end of the camp. The set up for this game is exactly like the Predator-Prey Game above. The difference is that each team is permanently assigned an identity, even though, like above, the students may be switched from team to team many times. The team on your left is always the OWLS. The team on your right is always the CROWS. For each round, you make a statement about nature or conservation. If the statement is true, the owls chase the crows. If the statement is false, the crows chase the owls. Everything else is the same as in the above game.
This game is fun, but also teaches children about balances in nature. For each round, divide the group up into the following identities: Hawk: 2 students Trees: a little less than half the remaining students Squirrels: the rest, a few more than trees Trees stand still, with one hand down at their side and the other hand their hip. The space between their elbow and their side is a tree hole in which squirrels may hide. When a squirrel wants to enter the hole, he grabs the tree by the elbow. When squirrels are in a hole, they are safe from hawks (but only if they are actually holding the elbow of a tree). Squirrels are very territorial, so only one squirrel may stay in a hole at a time. If another squirrel comes to the hole, the former occupant must leave. When the hawk tags a squirrel between trees, the squirrel must quit the game and go sit in the "dead zone" behind you. As fewer and fewer squirrels are left, you become the woodcutter who enters the palying field and cuts down trees with your imaginary axe. Trees that are chopped must also go sit in the dead zone. When only two squirrels are left, announce that the year (game) has come to an end. For the next round (year), the last two remaining squirrels play the hawks in the next round. The trees are reborn as baby squirrels for the next year. The hawks and most of the squirrels play trees. However, by adjusting the number of hawks, trees and squirrels from round to round, you can show students how the balance of nature must be maintained. If there are too many hawks or too many trees, the hawks will starve. Too few trees and the squirrels will be wiped out too quickly.
Teaches students about social hunting strategies. Painted dogs hunt in packs. Duikers are solitary. One student is the duiker. All the rest are painted dogs. However, in this game, only one painted dog can chase the duiker at a time, choose the first dog to chase (the "alpha dog"). All the students except the duiker and the alpha dog, squat down to form a circle facing outward. The alpha dog will chase the duiker around the outside of the circle. The duiker can go either way around the circle. Dogs can only go one way. Whichever way each dog starts running is the only direction that dog may run around the circle. If a dog chases the duiker for more than five seconds, he will waste too much energy, and the duiker will win. As soon as a dog starts chasing the duiker, you start counting to five. So the hunter must tap another member of the pack on the head and take his/her place in the circle, before you reach five. The new hunter may choose to go either direction, but once chosen he/she cannot reverse his/her direction. Soon the students will begin to realize that the pack must use a certain hunting strategy to catch its prey without wasting too much energy to survive. The dog that tags the duiker may play the duiker in the next round. | |
| © Siren Conservation Education 2003. |