Animals often need to stay out of sight to stay out of danger. Many do this by hiding in the forest, staying very still, and camouflaging into the environment. They can’t hide too deep into the forest or they won’t have access to food and water. Are you ready to test your camouflage skills?
What You’ll Need
A group of friends
A patch of forest
What To Do
Choose one person to be the Searcher. They will plant their feet a few steps from the edge of the forest. They cannot move their feet from this position for the rest of the game.
The Searcher closes their eyes, and counts to 30, out loud. Meanwhile, all other players sneak into the forest, finding a hiding spot.
The Searcher opens their eyes once they’ve finished counting. They must try to spot the players hiding in the forest. Don’t move your feet, but you can crouch down, lean, or stand up on your tiptoes to get different views. If you think you see a friend, you must describe what colour of clothing you can see, and where.
If you are hiding in the forest and the Searcher spots you by describing your clothing, you must come out of the bush. You’ve been found!
If the Searcher cannot spot any more people, they close their eyes and hold out their hands, saying: “Food and Water!” They immediately start counting down from 15.
During these 15 seconds, anyone still hiding in the bush must come out of hiding, ‘grab some food and water’ (high five the Searcher’s outstretched hands), and return to hiding, before the Searcher has finished counting down.
The Searcher re-opens their eyes, and again tries to find anyone hiding in the bush.
If there are still people the Searcher cannot see, they repeat step 6, this time only counting down from 10 seconds. If there are still people hidden, the Searcher repeats again, counting down from 5 seconds.
If there are still people the Searcher cannot see who have successfully taken food and water at each of the three opportunities, the Searcher holds up their hand, showing a number with their fingers.
If those hidden are able to see the number being shown by the Searcher without being seen, they can call it out to successfully win the game!
Try playing again with a new searcher and a different patch of forest.
Ask Yourself
Are some types of plants better to hide behind than others?
What kind of animals might be hiding in the forest you are playing in?
What kind of danger might animals be hiding from?
Blog post written by Claire Merkosky, SCiP intern.