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Home » Primary Science » Key Stage 1 Science » Simple Food Chains and a Worksheet!

Simple Food Chains and a Worksheet!

Modified: Mar 14, 2023 · Published: Mar 26, 2012 by Emma Vanstone · This post may contain affiliate links · 11 Comments

It is always tricky to get children to understand that living things can get eaten by other living things. We have tried very hard to make sure my children know that a chicken in a packet was once a live chicken and that they are food for us.

So with that in mind, we decided to look at food chains.

We got out all of the children’s plastic animals and a few soft toy animals (ones that were missing) to help. We also picked some leaves from the garden, and I made some red arrows on the computer and printed them out.

selection of toy animals for a food chain activity
All the animals!

Firstly we names all the animals to check he knew what they were.

We then group the animals into

1. Meat eaters (Carnivores)

2. Vegetable Eaters (Herbivores)

3. Both (Omnivores)

Simple Food Chains and a worksheet, Science Sparks
Sort into groups

Then we decided if we could make some chains with arrows to show what was eaten by which animal. The arrow in a food chain means ‘Food for’.

I explain that all food chains usually start with a ‘producer’ or, as I explained to Noah, a vegetable or something green as it makes its own food from the sun.

Then anything that eats something else is called a consumer.

These are some of the chains we made!

Simple Food Chains and a worksheet, Science Sparks
Leaves, Caterpillar, Bird
Simple Food Chains and a worksheet, Science Sparks
Leaves, Cow, Man
Simple Food Chains and a worksheet, Science Sparks
Leaves/grass, Zebra, Lion

This is such a simple exercise for little ones, but if you want to stretch older children t that bit further, then I have made the worksheet below. It contains cards to cut out and arrows so you can make your own food chains and a vocabulary sheet. I have included the answers for the chains on the fourth sheet.

Simple Food Chains 1

Have fun with your food chain exploration!

Find out more about food chains and food webs.

Last Updated on March 14, 2023 by Emma Vanstone

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Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kelly

    March 26, 2012 at 11:08 am

    We also talk a lot about the meat we eat and try to explain that it came from living animals. My son was quite distressed when he learned this and kept telling me that chooks (chickens) are his friends and wasn’t too happy eating them at first.

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      March 26, 2012 at 11:16 am

      I can understand that – it takes a while to get their head around it, but I think it is important they understand the nature behind it, and then they can make their own decisions. If mine decided they wanted to be veggie then that would not worry me as long as they respect the natural food chain process.

      Reply
  2. Michelle

    March 26, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    This is such a great idea! 🙂

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      March 26, 2012 at 7:44 pm

      Thank you kindly!

      Reply
  3. MsXpat

    March 26, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    This is outstanding and clever lesson. I really makes the life cycle come ‘alive’.

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      March 26, 2012 at 7:45 pm

      What a compliment! Thank you. I enjoyed putting this one together and Noah enjoyed having a go!

      Reply
  4. kim

    March 27, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Very cool idea!

    Reply
  5. maggy, red ted art

    March 28, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    Oooh I love this! What a great post! I think it is very important to explain things like (where our food comes from…) this to kids! Even if it is sad to think of how we all “each other”!

    Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy & Alissa

    Reply
  6. Rebekah @ The Golden Gleam

    March 31, 2012 at 1:38 am

    We certainly have a lot of toy animals, and I love this way of using them to learn about the food chain. My daughter is fascinated by learning about what other animals eat especially meat eaters so this would be right up her alley.

    Reply
  7. MiaB

    April 06, 2012 at 5:35 am

    This is such a great learning activity and a great way to use the animal toys. Thanks for sharing at Sharing Saturday 🙂

    Reply
    • sofia

      March 18, 2014 at 3:56 pm

      Great idea .thanks for sharing.

      Reply

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