Oh, Deer! Group Activity

Learn how nature finds it's balance, through a game called 'Oh, Deer!' The main game (lasts about 5-10 minutes) is played 12-15 times, with some participants playing the Deer and other participant playing the Necessities Of Life (food, shelter, water). Add natural disasters and other predators, once you have the game down. Due to the nature of this game (not based on strength, speed, or agility), even very small children can play with the older player with an assistant.

Divide the participants into two groups, the Deer and the Necessities of Life. There should be twice as many Necessities as Dear. One way to do this is by having them line up and count off 1, 2, 3 ... then announce all the 1's will be the deer.

Have the participants line up in 2 lines, the Deer on one side and the Necessities on the other, facing each other, about 10 feet apart from the other line and about an arms distance away from the neighbor. At the beginning of each round, the participants turn away from each other, with their backs turned away from the other line. The Necessities decide if they wish to be Food (indicated with hands on belly), Water (indicated with hands over mouth), or Shelter (indicated with hands on head). At the same time, the Deer decide which of these 3 things they need, choosing one by placing their hands on either their belly, mouth, or head. When the officiator says "Go" the two groups turn around to face each other. The Deer find a Necessity that matched their need. The Deer then go to the other line, find their match, and bring them to the Deer line, and the Necessity becomes a Deer for the next round. If a Deer cannot find a match, they are "recycled" (die, but call it "recycled" so kids don't mistake dying as losing) and becomes a Necessity. NOTICE and point out the balance of nature. TWIST: You can add one or two natural disasters to the first phase. After they have chosen, they are told to turn around and wait for more instructions. Once they turn around you can explain that there was a terrible fire and there is no shelter available. Or, this has been a year of terrible drought and there is no water. Those Necessities step back and out of this round. EXTENSION: Other Predators If you have quite a large group of 14 or more, the 2nd phase is to add a perpendicular lines with 2 players taking the role of Cougars. The Cougars may choose any Necessity of Life, but if they choose food (hands on belly) they catch a Deer. When either the Cougars numbers or the Deer numbers rose too high, add in 2 Hunters (on a line opposite the Cougars, completing a rectangle game formation). The Hunters hunt Deer or Cougar, indicated by shaping one hand into a C or both hands into a D in front of them. If the Hunters become too many, you could introduce an Environmental Specialists, who (indicating by forming a C or D) stop the hunters from hunting their choice of Cougar or Deer that round. NOTICE that other predators help nature keep its balance. For, if you take away the predators, you may cause an overpopulation of deer, and the vegetation would greatly be reduced by their great consumption. If you take away all the deer to preserve vegetation, there will be an overgrowth of vegetation. The balance of nature is pretty amazing!