All living things need food to be able to survive. A food chain is the simplest way of showing how energy is transferred between organisms.

All energy originally comes from the sun. Plants use sunlight to make their own food by a process called photosynthesis. Plants are called producers as they make their own food and are the start of the food chain.

Animals are called consumers as they eat plants and other animals.

If one part of a food chain is reduced or changes, the whole food chain is affected.

 

Resources

  • Paper
  • Coloured pens or pencils
  • Sellotape or double sided tape

 

Learning Outcomes

Key Stage 1

  • Understand that all living things need food to be able to survive.

 

Key Stage 2

  • Understand the meaning of producers, predators and prey.
  • Construct and interpret food chains.
  • Understand that if one part of a food chain is altered it affects the whole chain.

 

Steps

Try to think of some example food chains

Grass – cow- human

 

Grass – rabbit – fox

 

Green plant – slug – frog – human

 

Create a paper chain demonstrating the food chain, think about the order of the chain and draw each part on the correct chain segment.

 

Extension ideas

Ask the children to write down food chains containing the following.

 

  • One carnivore and one herbivore.

 

  • One producer, a primary consumer and a secondary consumer.

 

  • A food chain where the last consumer is an omnivore.

 

Ask the children to create a food web and/or the longest food chain they can.

Ask the children to create a food chain pyramid; the producer should be at the bottom.