My students have been studying the Second Great Lesson, which is is called The Coming Of Life. In this lesson, the students learn how life slowly transformed from single cell prokaryotes all the way to multicellular organisms in the Neozoic era. The students use lessons like The Clock of Eras, the Tree of Life, and the Timeline of Life, to investigate how life changed throughout the Earth’s existence. A feature of each of the Great Lessons is that they show how all the different areas of study come together. For example, the Second Great Lesson integrates the studies of biology, paleontology, geology, and more. A favorite lesson of mine (because of the simplicity) and the students (because it mirrors one of their all-time favorite games) is Predator and Prey Tag. We just played it this week with the lower elementary, it is always a crowd pleaser.

Predator and Prey Tag is a perfect example of the type of lesson that fully utilizes the concept of low hanging fruit, which I discussed in the blog a couple weeks ago. Predator and Prey Tag is almost identical to another very very popular children’s game called Sharks and Minnows. That similarity is by design. This means that very little is needed to get the game up and running, which maximizes playing time. However, I do make a crucial rule change to the game, and this change effectively demonstrates how a functioning ecosystem and food chain would work!

In a typical game of Sharks and Minnows, there is a tagger, which is the shark, and minnows, which are the runners evading the shark as they try and cross from one side of the playing area to the other. When the shark tags someone, they also become a shark, and by the end of the game everyone is tagged and is a shark, and the last player to be tagged becomes the first shark of the next game. It is a simple and fun tag variation. In predator and prey tag, there is a predator tagger who tries to tag the prey runners who are trying to run to the otherside. This part is identical, and the students understand how to play instantly. Here is the big modification to the game:

If a predator fails to tag a prey runner during their turn, the predator becomes a prey player!

In the traditional version of the game, a tagging player always stays a tagging player until the end of the game. In the predator prey version, students can go back and forth between predator and prey depending on their success tagging or evading. The rationale for the role change is explained in the lesson write-up:

Any prey that was tagged by the predator was “eaten” by the predator. The eaten prey gave the predator energy so it was able to spawn other predators, so the tagged children become predators themselves for the next round.

If the predator did not tag anyone, then the predator “starves.” A predator that starves would die, and their body would decompose. The minerals from the body would return to the soil, and that soil would nourish the plants. Prey eats those plants. Using the idea of food chains, this is how we transition a predator who did not tag anyone to a prey. When the predator takes off the jersey and joins the rest of the prey before the next round, this symbolizes that the prey ate the plants (nourished by the soil) and had enough energy to spawn new prey. Our food chain is now complete.

Players wear jerseys or pennies to symbolize if they are a predator, as well as to keep the game organized. As players are tagged, they put on jerseys, and if players do not tag anyone, they take the jerseys off. This dynamic makes the game continuous as long as the students are playing fair and being honest. When there are a lot of predators, some will not tag anyone, and become prey the next round. When there are a lot of prey, it makes it easier for the predators to tag someone. Very rarely do we see an instance when there are all predators or all prey, and if this happens, it invites a rich conversation on what would happen next, and why the predator prey relationship is so important to the environment.

One rule change created a much richer game experience that does a great job of simulating how food systems work. This is what I mean by low hanging fruit. One small change yielded dramatically better results in what the students learn, yet is virtually the same game as one they already know and love. The students get to play game that they love, and I get to teach a lesson that is very rich in its ability to integrate with the classroom lesson the Second Great Lesson.

Click on the Predator and Prey Tag hyperlinks for the free lesson download!