The Owl Game

First, please read our COVID-19 Recommendation.

The owl game is a fun activity to play outside with a group of people of any age. Invite your friends, family members, and neighbors to join you in this activity. This game is an adaptation of one of the many fun activities on the BirdSleuth International curriculum!

Materials

• Small stones or any other small objects
• A group of people
• A blindfold

Instructions

• Pick one person of the group to represent the “owl.” 
• Place the owl in the center blindfolded while everyone else forms a circle around the owl.
• The other participants will be “mice,” which are usually preyed on by wild owls.
• The mice will walk quietly around the owl and throw pebbles or other small objects gently on the ground to mimic sounds of walking or running mice.
• Using its hearing skills, the “owl” has to identify where a mouse is and point towards it. The owl has to pay close attention to distinguish the sounds produced by the pebbles or small objects from the shoes or movements of the mice.
• When a “mouse” is pointed at by the “owl” the mouse must leave the circle. At the end of the game only one mouse should remain, the winner!

Part of the challenge of this activity is how hard it can be to tell the difference between the noise made by the mice compared to that of the stones or small objects. Since the person playing the owl is blindfolded he/she must rely only on his/her ears. This requires a lot of focus and concentration from both the people playing mice and the owl, making it a great mental exercise. In real life owls hunt for their food at night, which means they have to be very good at listening to where their prey is. Aren’t they amazing?

Written by Ashley Calderon and Julia Luna