Source: The Amazing Animal Activity Book

Racing Downstream

Materials: reproducible pages (PDF), penny, quarters, oaktag, crayons, scissors

Ask your students if they eat fish. Ask them if they can think of other animals that like to eat fish. (Seabirds, seals, otters, bears, and raccoons are just a few. There's even a fishing cat, and a fishing bat!) The game is best played by two to three children. Distribute a copy of the reproducible (PDF) to each student, along with a copy of the game rules. Review the instructions with them before they begin. Students will have fun pretending to be fish racing downstream — and at the same time they'll become even more familiar with some of the dangers that real fish encounter. Here's how to play:

1. Ask students to color each fish disk a different color.
2. Then have them cut out the disks and glue them to quarters. Or use quarter-size pieces of oaktag and mark the disks: heads on one side, tails on the other.
3. Students might want to color the game board as well. Once they have done so, they should cut it out and glue it to a piece of oaktag.