Duration

30 minutes

Students will demonstrate limited habitat resources through playing a 'musical chairs' game.

Preparation

This lesson is based on the party game ‘Musical Chairs’. Ensure you have a large enough space to carry out the game safely.

Steps

  1. Explain to students that they are all one type of marine organism. At this stage it can be anything.
  2. Discuss the needs or resources the organism needs to survive in its habitat in terms of food and shelter.
  3. Set out one chair per student at the beginning of the game. Each chair represents the available habitat space, such as a reef ledge, required for each individual to survive.
  4. Students can either walk around the chairs or mimic the movement of the chosen organism when the music is played.
  5. When the music stops, each student must sit down on an available chair.
  6. In the next rounds begin removing chairs to reflect less available habitat for the chosen organism. Students that cannot find a free chair are either eaten by a predator or run out of food.

Keywords

abiotic, adaptation, biotic, competition, coral, ecosystem, flora, fauna, generalist, habitat, habitat preference, limestone, mangrove, niche, outcompete, seagrass, specialist