Sub-concepts: predator, prey
Materials: MMs (make sure they have green and brown, not weird easter MMs)
outdoors (preferably grass & dirt)
Ask students to think of an animal (eg. birds).
Ask if anyone knows what predator or prey means. Explain that the MMs are going to be the prey (the animal we picked) and we are going to be the predators. What would an appropriate predator be? (Silly answers are ok, but make sure to think about real food chains too.)
Toss the MMs on the ground. Give students 15-20 seconds (dependent age and speed!) to "capture" (pick up) as many "birds" (chosen prey) as possible.
When the time is up, have students compare which "birds" got captured. Hopefully, students will have mostly brightly colored MMs. Ask students which were the hardest to find (green & brown) and which were easiest (brighter colors). Explain that the predators found the brightly colored prey the easiest and "ate"/killed them. So, the green and brown MMs lived on to have more green and brown babies. Eventually most "birds" would be green and brown because they are the mostly the only ones that live. This is natural selection.
Ask students to brain storm other traits that might help animals escape from prey and live on to reproduce.
Speed - antelopes (fast ones live) or cheetahs (fast ones get to eat)
Color/Markings
Height - tallest giraffes found the best leaves
Poison - animals with the strongest poison usually "win." The weaker poison don't always win, so they die off. Maybe that's why some animals are SO poisonous, because all the worst ones were the "green and brown" because they were the hardest to kill by predators.
See my reflection on this lesson here.
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