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Science

What Eats What?

Overview

Children explore who eats what in nature, building a simple food chain from plant to prey to predator.

Learning Objective
Children understand that animals eat other living things for energy and can construct a simple food chain.

Resources needed

  • None — or pictures of local animals and plants

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Ask: what did you eat today? Where did that food come from?
  2. 2 Trace the chain: bread comes from wheat, wheat grows from soil and sun.
  3. 3 Ask: what does a grasshopper eat? What eats the grasshopper?
  4. 4 Build a simple chain: grass → grasshopper → bird → hawk.
  5. 5 Introduce the arrow as meaning 'is eaten by' — energy flows along the arrow.
  6. 6 Ask: what would happen if grasshoppers disappeared?
  7. 7 Children create their own food chain using local animals they know.

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Act out the food chain: children play each role and 'eat' the person next to them.
  • Show a food web — many chains connected.
  • Discuss what happens when one link in the chain is removed.
More information

Teach: food chain, producer, consumer, predator, prey, energy, arrow. The physical acting-out version makes the chain tangible and memorable.

Use a three-link chain only — plant, small animal, large animal — before introducing longer chains.

Can children construct a correct three-link food chain? Do they understand that the arrow means 'is eaten by' rather than 'eats'?

Use locally familiar animals. Draw the chain in soil or describe it verbally. No pictures or printed materials needed.

Children often reverse the arrow direction, drawing it from predator to prey. Reinforce: the arrow shows where the energy goes — from the eaten to the eater.

Food chains introduce the concept of energy transfer through ecosystems. They build the ecological thinking needed to understand conservation and the effects of species loss.

Activity details
Primary Medium 20 minutes no prep Whole Class, Small Group Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Food Chains Ecosystems Living Things