A food chain shows the way in which energy is passed from the sun to plants which are then eaten by animals, who are then eaten by other animals, until you get to the top of the food chain. All energy comes from the sun, plants use sunlight to make their own food by a process called photosynthesis.
Example of a food chain
sun – pondweed – tadpole – duck
Food chain activity
Choose a food chain and print out animal images, stick them on tubes of different sizes with the biggest at the top. It might be worth adding the sun at the bottom as well.
I then asked the children to fit the tubes together to make a food chain.
grass – rabbit – fox
More examples of food chains
grass – cow – human
grass – grasshopper – frog – hawk
Questions to ask
Do you know what a herbivore is?
A herbivore is an animal that eats plants. In a food chain we call the herbivore the primary consumer. It is the first consumer.
Do you know what a carnivore is?
A carnivore is an animal which eats other animals, in a food chain carnivores ( predators ) are known as secondary or tertiary consumers.
What is a predator?
A predator is an animal which kills another animal to eat.
A food web is similar to a food chain, but shows a more complicated feeding relationship.
Watch out for more food chain posts coming soon.
Related posts
Learn about photosynthesis – Cress Caterpillar
Twinkl Resources also have some great food chain activities, we love these animal cards.
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