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Description

Play a fun game to explore how the natural world is connected like a beautiful spider’s web.

Resources

You will need
Scrap paper
Sticky tape
Pens or pencils
Scissors
A ball of string
Inflatable ball (optional)

Instructions

Before you begin:

You’ll need to make a label with the name of a plant or animal on it for each player. It’s OK to use a plant or animal more than once, and it’s up to you whether you copy the example animals we’ve suggested or make up your own.
Decide how you’ll display the labels while everyone catches, holds, and throws string during the game. You could use sticky notes, stick scrap paper on with sticky tape, or ask everyone to prop their labels up somewhere everyone can see.
If you’ve got a large group, you may want to split into smaller groups for this game.

Play the game:

1: Everyone should sit in a circle.

2: The person leading the game should give everyone a label and tell them how to display them.

3: Make sure that everyone can see all of the labels before you continue.

4: The person leading the game should explain that the group now represents an ecosystem – a community of living things.

5: Everyone should go around the circle and read out their plant or animal. The person leading the game should make sure that everyone knows what the plants and animals are.

6: The person leading the game should give someone the ball of string.
The person with the ball of string should look around the circle and find something they think they’re connected to, for example, something they’d eat (or be eaten by!) or a place they’d live.
For example, a squirrel may choose an acorn because squirrels eat acorns.

7: The player with the string should hold onto the end of the string, throw the rest of the ball of string to the player they’re connected to, and explain how they’re connected.
For example, the squirrel would hold onto the end of the string and throw the ball of string to the acorn, telling everyone they’re connected because squirrels eat acorns.

8: This player with the string should repeat steps six and seven. They should make sure they keep holding onto the string when they throw the rest of the. ball of string to the next person in the circle.

9: Everyone should continue making connections and throwing the ball of string around until everyone is connected at least once.
The middle of the circle should quickly start to look like a spider’s web.

10: Everyone should talk about how the connections shows how all of the different plants and animals are connected to each other.

11: The person leading the game should choose one or two strings. They should carefully cut these strings with scissors and explain that this represents something being removed from the environment.
For example, a species becoming extinct (dying out) or an environment changing because people have chopped down the trees.

12: Everyone should talk about how cutting one or two strings affects other parts of the web.
Some effects are obvious. For example, the plants and animals directly connected to the removed labels have been left without food or shelter. Encourage everyone to think about the knock-on effect
on other species. How will removing one plant or animal end up affecting the whole ecosystem?

13: The person leading the game should help everyone understand that this shows why all sorts of life is really important. This variety of life is called biodiversity – WWF talk about biodiversity as ‘the magic
ingredient that enables the world to work smoothly’.

14: The person leading the game should explain that humans are part of this web of life – we need biodiversity to survive.

15: The person leading the game could show everyone Our Planet’s video about biodiversity. Who better to explain it than David Attenborough?

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Badge Links

• Adventure - Outdoor activity
• Community Impact - Identify
• Outdoors - Five animals