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Predator and Prey Relationship Games for Kids

Learning about the relationship between predators and prey teaches children about the balance of nature, survival strategies and the food chains. Group games that allow children to act as predator and prey enable them to understand these principles in a practical setting, while enjoying the excitement of catch and chase activities.
  1. Predator Hunt

    • Teach children about the relationship between finding prey and survival with this game. Divide children into different types of predators and make badges for them to wear identifying what kind they are portraying. Assign two or three different types of prey to each predator; there can be some crossover, but each predator should have at least one type of prey that is unique to them. Cut out shapes of each prey and hide them around the classroom, make some from bright colors that can be easily found and others from a similar color to the surface so they blend in to the background. Challenge the predators to find a certain number of their prey in an allotted time. You should create fewer prey than necessary for all the predators to find their quota. Those who fail to find their quota in the set time, should go to a designated "hungry corner."

    Predator Versus Poacher

    • Predators also can be prey. This is particularly true when it comes to the relationship between humans and animals. Divide the children into two teams, poachers and lions. Mark off the four corners of the games hall: Two corners are plains where lions are safe, and two are villages where poachers are safe. The rest of the playground is fields, in which neither is safe. No one is allowed to stay in their safe area for more than a count of five seconds. When their time is up, they must run to another safe area. Pick one child to be "it." That child must stay in the "fields" and try to catch another child. Lions may only catch poachers, and poachers may only catch lions. Whoever is caught then becomes "it."

    Survival Skills

    • Predators require special skills, such as stealth, to catch their prey, but the relationship is balanced out by prey survival skills, such as speed or disguise. Pick one child to be the predator. The rest of the class should be prey and must line up along the middle of the hall with their backs to the predator. The predator should start from one side of the hall. The opposite side is the preys' safe area. The predator must sneak up on his prey as slowly and quietly as possible. When the teacher decides they are moving too loudly or making noise, the teacher should blow a whistle to alert the prey. The prey must then run to their safe area while the predator tries to catch them. Place four large cardboard "camouflage" cutouts around the hall. If a prey manages to pick one of these up, the prey is safe.

    Group Survival

    • Help children understand the relationship between predators, prey and hunger in a group situation. One-quarter of the class should be predators, while the rest are prey. Predators get six points for each prey they catch. Predators also can work in pairs or threes, but they can only target one prey at a time and must divide their catch points equally between them. Prey are safe in groups of three, but the teacher should play the part of "hunger." If hunger touches a prey, that child must run to join another group of prey, but that child can only join with another lone prey or pair of prey. Caught prey are out of the game. As the number of prey decreases, "hunger" should touch predators who must then join with another predator or predator pair to survive. The winning prey is the one who lasts the longest; the winning predator is the one who gets the most prey points.


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