Hobbies And Interests
Fun &Games
The Biodiversity 911 website has many activities, including games, maps, and quizzes. Biodiversity Performs is a game in which players try to determine which ecological service is happening before time runs out.
The Gene Scene includes several games where players learn about genetic diversity and its importance. Then there is Fish Stew, where players learn about sustainable fishing by selecting different types of fish and learning about their impact on the environment, all with jaunty graphics and entertaining voices.
Biodiversity Stuff
The American Museum of National History hosts a wealth of hands-on and online activities about biodiversity. You can sort them in their ‘Biodiversity Stuff’ list, by type of activity. Printable games and activities include learning about the African rain forest, instructions for keeping a field journal and making your own biodiversity stationary. Games such as Endangered! teach players about the Endangered Species Act. The museum website has many quizzes for kids to learn and test their knowledge of biodiversity.
Concordia
Biological Diversity for Kids, a program developed at the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University, hosts several games, an extensive glossary and index cards relating to biodiversity. Kids can choose Make Me a Home, where they learn how to build an environmentally friendly and safe home for a turtle family. Super Animal Creator teaches about adaptations and how they help animals survive in changing environments and Misson: Cat Rescue, has players becoming detectives that search for the causes of environmental threats to endangered cats around the world. All games have excellent graphics and engaging story lines that will keep players entertained for hours.
The Game
The Biodiversity Game is an interactive game for older students developed by a biology professor at Dalhousie University. Players use different varieties, or species, of dried beans and split into five groups, or continents. The teacher or leader shows students how to play each of the ten rounds. The game continues until one continent holds all the species, one continent has no species, or all the rounds are completed. Students will learn about concepts such as reproduction, competition, climate change, disease, pollution, and raids, and should discuss what they have learned at the end of the game.