Windfalls
All forests, especially mature ones, are marked by fallen trees that can leave gaping holes in the canopy of the forest. These holes provide light which encourages new growth on the forest floor, and the decaying tree also returns nutrients into the ground. Eventually a new tree will grow to take the place of the fallen tree in the canopy of the forest. In climax forest, the ratio between species is often close to balanced and can remain stable over many years. To do so, different species sometimes replace each other’s windfalls. For instance, a tulip poplar might replace a maple instead of another maple fulfilling that role. Play a game of tag to explore that balance in climax forests.
Divide the group into two teams, but set one person aside for a special task. Appoint one team to be poplars and one team to be the maples, and give each team a special symbol that they must make with their hands (make sure they can still run well with that symbol). Next, explain that the single player will be the wind, and that if that person tags a tree, that tree must fall where they were tagged. Trees get to run in this game until they are tagged! Then they are tagged, the tree should fall to the forest floor and wait. The first team to get two players touching the fallen tree brings that player back into the game as a member of their own species. For instance, if a maple falls, but two poplars get there first, the tree switches into a poplar. Continue the game until one species vanishes or until it is clear that an equilibrium of some kind has been reached. Discuss why or why not a balance was reached, and discuss the ecological balance of your own habitat (probably not in equilibrium unless you are playing in a climax forest).
If you are playing in a maturing forest with various ages of trees, take the opportunity to discuss the Church as it grows across time. Some of those trees may have been seeds generations ago and are just now reaching maturity, but other younger trees are growing beneath ready to replace them in the forest. In the same way, the Church has individuals at many stages of growth in the faith and there is always someone ready to carry on the work of the Church as older members die. The witness of all the saints across time has brought the Church to where it is today, and your campers stand in line with that important “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12.1).