Migration

Nature Games and Activities for Church Camps

At any given moment, there are birds moving back and forth between habitats. They simply never seem to stop moving. These motions can be as small as ptarmigans moving from high to low elevations or as grand as the migration of some terns which carries them around the entire globe once a year. Here in North America, migration punctuates the seasons as warblers come and go, seeking to raise their young on the summer bonanza of insects. Migration is truly a spectacular though poorly understood phenomenon, one in which humans can only stand in awe. Migration is also a great effort of survival, and birds face many challenges as they move from breeding grounds to wintering grounds and back again.

This game helps campers to explore the many obstacles that migratory birds face, some of them natural and some of them caused by humans. The basic set up is a giant board game. Use cones to set up a rather long slalom course (two cones mark a gate) in an open area. Make out five or more challenge cards that will determine actions along the migratory route. Each of the five cards must have three different options on it. The campers choose a number between one and three and they must then obey the result of that number on each card. Notice, that option one is not always the best choice, just as option three is not universally disaster. For instance, your challenge cards might follow this pattern:

Habitat

1. Habitat is preserved; move to next stop
2. Part of habitat destroyed and migration is delayed; do ten jumping jacks and continue
3. An important stopover habitat is destroyed and the bird dies; go back to start

Weather

1. Storm while crossing the Gulf of Mexico and the bird dies, go back to start
2. Tail wind and migration moves more quickly; skip to the next stop
3. Strong winds ground you for a day, do ten push ups and then move on

Food (spread fifty milk caps around the area where this challenge will be)

1. Food is scarce; find ten milk caps before continuing
2. Insects have not hatched yet and the bird starves, go back to start
3. Plenty of food; move to the next stop

Predators

1. Safe passage, move to the next stop
2. Killed by a hawk; go back to start
3. A hawk pursues the flock but the birds mob the bird and move on; link arms with three other birds before moving on

Human Obstacles

1. Bright lights disorient the birds and they lose a day's travel; spin around ten times
2. Collide with a cell phone tower and die; go back to start
3. Avoid a collision because of darkened lights; move to next stop

Position a staff member to run each stop along the migratory route and only allow one camper to start at a time. Instruct the campers to whisper their choice of number at each stop and then listen to the instructions. Explain that they will all begin in South America and attempt to reach the breeding grounds on the opposite side of the slalom course. Once the campers have reached North America, they must then turn around and try to successfully return to the wintering grounds. Advise them that it might be a good idea to remember the number that successfully gets them through each stop for the return trip. If they die going south, they return to start at the northern end of the migratory route.

After the campers have all successfully migrated the course once, debrief the activity by talking about the many activities that migratory birds face. Ask the campers to provide examples from the game. Also explain that many birds which we see out during the day actually migrate at night. Have the campers study the course closely and then try to navigate it with their eyes closed. Be careful to have plenty of staff members along the course to help the migrating campers. How remarkable that the tiniest of birds can find their way from Mexico to Canada in the dark!

You can also play a more active migration game by establishing two vaguely defined goals separated by a good space of ground. Instruct the campers on how to find the goal and once there, to find a partner and build a nest. After having built the nest, the pair must return with the nest to the starting point. Warn them that predators (the counselors) will be out looking for them along the route. If they are tagged, then they must spin around ten times before continuing in the game. After the game, discuss the difficulties of finding a goal based on only a few instructions, and add how young birds sometimes migrate without the help of adults to lead the way.

It is truly remarkable that the birds innately know where to go as the seasons dictate their movements. The Prophet Jeremiah observed bird's migration and was struck by bird's innate instincts, when humans always seem to run from what is right. Jeremiah writes: "Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the ordinance of the LORD" (8.7). Just as birds follow a clear course from wintering to breeding grounds, so should humanity follow the course laid out before us and return to God.

Similar activities stressing the challenges of particular organisms can easily be developed for the particular interests or your habitat and campers. Turtle Tag and the Iron Seal represent other examples.