Capture the Flag is a childhood favorite, and kids of all ages and backgrounds are typically familiar with the game's rules. Since my students love this game, I needed to make a version connected to the classroom curriculum. When we played this game with small white soccer balls, I couldn't help but think they looked like eggs. This sparked my imagination, and I was inspired to make Egg Thief.

When I first began playing this game, I used to say that the students were oviraptors stealing eggs from each other's nests. However, a student told me that Oviraptors had been given a bad rap, so I looked further into it. Oviraptor literally means egg hunter, so how did scientists get it wrong? Fossils of oviraptors had been found close to eggs, and it was assumed that they were feeding on them. Still, after more analysis of the oviraptor toothless beaks, they concluded they were not designed for puncturing eggs but for eating vegetation. The oviraptor may have actually been protecting its own eggs! A famous dinosaur that probably did have eggs in its diet was the velociraptor (made famous by the movie Jurassic Park).

This game is perfect for students studying the Timeline of Life. Egg-eating dinosaurs may have helped contribute to the extinction of other dinosaurs when their populations were already in decline due to natural disasters. A dangerous environment would have only been further exacerbated because their young were being eaten. In this game, the students pretend to be these egg-eating dinosaurs trying to steal eggs from the opposing team's nests.

Materials:

·      An ample open space (such as a gym or field)

·      Sports balls (white or yellow if possible, so it looks like an egg)

o   If you have a large class, have a variety of sports balls (soccer ball, basketball, tennis ball, etc.)

·      Cones (if playing outside)

·      Hula-hoops (if playing outside)

Minimum Amount of Students Needed: This game can be played with as few as six players (three per team), but it works much better with a whole class (20+). Suppose you have a significantly large playing area, especially outside (like field day). In that case, this game can accommodate huge groups.

Age: All Ages