Batty Encounters and Camouflage Caterpillars
Batty Encounters
Bats have a unique way of finding their dinner. They are able to send out high frequency sounds which bounce off any objects in their path. The returning echoes tell the bat the size and shape of the object (ie, is it dinner?) as well as how far away it is.
This game enables children to experience echolocation as a means of finding prey. Nominate one child as the bat. Tie a blindfold firmly over his eyes and ask the remaining children to form a large but impenetrable circle around him. Silently indicate who will be the moth. This child should also step into the circle and is free to move around within the circle. The aim of the game is for the bat to 'tag' the moving moth by bouncing sounds to determine location. The bat calls out 'bat', to which the moth must immediately say 'moth'. Using this method, with regular bat-moth calls, the bat, normally after much hilarity, will tag the moth, at which point moth becomes bat and after swapping the blindfold over a new moth is silently nominated.
Equipment: blindfold
Camouflage Caterpillars
A superb way of avoiding being eaten is to look like your surroundings. Take mini-beasts - the majority are green or brown, and decidedly difficult to see in the undergrowth!
This simple game demonstrates very effectively the advantage of colour co-ordination for disappearing into your surroundings. Cut lengths of wool of a variety of colours. Ask the children one-by-one to select a length of wool and, with no one peeking, to hang it loosely on (not in!) the vegetation in a designated section of a nearby natural area. When all the wool has been scattered, go to the area as a group and encourage the children to shout out the names of the colours of the wool they spot first (though obviously they should ignore their own!). From this little game, the children should be able to determine which colours are the most difficult to spot and so would be excellent camouflage colours.
Ask the children to draw the shape of a mini-beast on a piece of paper (you can use templates if it is easier) and paint / crayon it in their choice of colours. When the mini-beasts are completed, help the children to cut them out and then return to the natural area. One-by-one the children should prop their mini-beasts secretly on the vegetation. As with the wool, the children can go back as a group when all the creations have been put in place and point out the paintings they can spot. The last found is the winner.
Equipment: various colours of wool, scissors, paper, pencils, templates, paints, crayons
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