Building Biomes with 3rd Graders!

This April team KS was invited to unveil our latest science game, Biome Builder, with a group of brilliant 3rd-grade students at Somers Intermediate School in Westchester, NY. This group of 24 bright 8- and 9-year-olds were eager to try their hand at building food chains in each of the four different landscapes. After only ten minutes of brief introductions to our team and a quick overview of the goal of the game, the kids were off and playing.

Besides completing food chains across four distinct biomes, the four sneaky event cards quickly became class favorites. We watched as one blonde-haired girl placed an invasive species card atop another child’s American Prairie food chain thus stopping its’ growth and forcing it into their bank. Another dark-haired boy stealthily used his scavenger card to steal specific prey from an opponents’ hand completing his perfectly stacked food chain of creatures from 1 to 5, winning the bonus ten points for stacking a complete food chain.

 

After 35 minutes of game play most of the students had completed one game and were well on their way towards round two when we had to leave and let them transition to the next class period. The 22 eager 8-year-olds were thrilled to keep the decks of play testing cards and the teachers have reported it is now a favorite activity during indoor recess time and during certain instructional periods!