Subject/Topic:
Making Food Chains?
1 Background
d energy
All plants and animals nee
Plants
from their food to live.
own
(producers) produce their
imals
energy from the sun. An
g
get their energy by eatin
e
other organisms. They ar
shows
in
consumers. A food cha
d
or who eats who. A foo
this transfer of energy,
the sun, as the source
chain always starts with
ers. Consumers eat the
of energy for the produc
ors who
p of the chain are predat
producers and at the to
ere are
Within an ecosystem, th
have few natural threats.
which
b,
ed to create a food we
many food chains interlink
es.
and reliance between speci
n
tio
nec
on
erc
int
e
th
s
show
ts, its
m to recover from threa
The ability of an ecosyste
st be conserved.
resilience, is vital and mu
2 Set the Sc
ene
Explain that you are
going to play a food
chains game. Introduc
e each of the animals
,
examine the images an
d explain that all
of these food chains
start with seaweed.
Explain seaweed is a
producer because
it makes its own ener
gy. Ask if
anyone knows where
seaweed gets
its energy (the sun).
5 Apply
Children should record their
food chain, with a picture of
each element and arrows
showing who eats who.
7 Reflect
6 Extend
their food chains. Now
Get children to re-form
ins are joined together
explain that really the cha
s
k if anyone can see any link
into one big food web. As
d
ren stay holding hands an
between the chains. Child
on,
or ribbon e.g. human/salm
create links with string
/cod.
seal/lobster, periwinkles
Food chains and webs,
biodiversity, UK marine
life
Discuss the following
questions: ‘What would
happen if one of the animals
became extinct?’, ‘How would
this impact the
other animals?’
‘What can we do to
reduce this risk?’ Encourage
children to identify actions
we can all take to make a
difference.
Suitable for: Younger years
3 Resources
Roles (each
Worksheet: Food Chain
.
role cut out, sticky tape
4 Investigate
Allocate each child an
element of the food
chain
from the Food Chain
s Roles worksheet. Th
es
e
should be printed, mi
xed up and stuck onto
each child with sellota
pe. Explain that genera
lly
larger creatures eat
the smaller creature
s,
but this isn’t always
the case. Children sh
ou
ld
spread out into a lar
ge open space and fin
d
their food chain by gr
ouping up with others
of
the same colour. They
should then start wi
th
the seaweed and arra
nge themselves in the
correct order to crea
te their chain and ho
ld
hands. Check food ch
ains using the order
on
the worksheet. Discus
s which of the animals
humans eat - get th
ese children to sit do
wn.
Ask what would happ
en if we were greedy
and ate all of these cr
eatures. What
would happen to the
other animals in the
A project made
possible by
Seaweed
Limpet
Prawn
Crab
Blenny
Peregrine
Falcon
Seagull
Otter
Food Chain Roles
Seaweed
Sand-hopper
Turnstone
Dead
Seaweed
Photograph credits: Common Lobster - Malcolm Nobbs, Crab - Rohan Holt, Dead
seaweed - pixabay , Gull - John Archer Thomson, Limpet - Paul Naylor (marinephoto.org.
uk), Peregrine falcon (Newent bird of prey centre) Anna Starley, Human - Tim Fanshawe,
Sandhopper - Richard Harrington, MCS, Seal- Mark Thomas, Seaweed-pixabay, Turnstone Sue Ranger, MCS, Otter - Henning Leweke
Seaweed
Seaweed
Dead
Seaweed
Limpet
Hermit Crab
Sea Urchin
Prawn
Dog Whelk
Octopus
Lobster
Flounder
Crab
Human
Human
Seal
Food
ChainRoles
Roles(continued)
(continued)
Food Chain
Seaweed