1. Oh Deer!
A game to learn about limiting
factors
8SCIENCE: Tues. Nov. 2nd

2. 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

3. 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 / v – shape
*When we get outside to the plaza by the library, I will show
you where to stand

4. Game rules continued…
• The goal is for the deer to get the ‘resource’ they
need to survive: MATCHING
– The deer must match with the habitat part they are
looking for and bring them back to the deer side. You
must high-five when you match-up. The habitat
person becomes a deer.
– If a deer does not 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

5. Changes to deer population 8A
0
5
10
15
20
25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number of Deer Left
Number of Deer Left

6. Changes to Deer Population 8B

7. Finally…what happened?
Answer these questions as your Science Journal for
today:
1) From the game, what have we learned about
what animals need to survive?
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) ?