“Oh Deer” is a simulation game that the 7th grade science classes played where students became “deer” and components of habitat. This activity emphasized the most essential things that animals need in order to survive. This game also showed how animal populations increase and decrease from year to year and that limiting factors are the cause of the population change.
In this activity, some students started as a deer and chose either food, water, or shelter as the component they needed to survive. When the students went outside, the deer stood in a line facing away from the habitat components standing in a line. Then the teacher counted down, and the habitat components signaled either food, water, or shelter and the deer turned to see if they could partner with their needed component.
The deer then run to their "need" and then return to their line to represent successfully meeting their need. If a deer fails to find their food, water, or shelter, they die and become part of the habitat resources/components line.
The objective of this game was to recognize the essential components of habitat, identify limiting factors in wildlife competition, notice fluctuations in populations, and learn that energy flows through living systems like the food chain.
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