Explain that the progression that animals eat and are eaten creates a food chain. An example food chain would be:

Person --> Fish --> Grasshopper --> Grass

The lowest organism, any living thing, on a food chain is a plant. Plants can create food but cannot eat other organisms (except for the Venus Fly Trap and other special plants - which make unique food chain).

Have your students use Yahoo! Search Engine to search for sites that have your animal's name to find more information on their animals. Enter the word "animal" and your animal's name to narrow the search somewhat.
As student visit their animals' sites, have them record animals that they eat and animals that hunt them. If no prey are mentioned, have students make note of the habitat in which the animal lives...you/students can predict animals that might be eaten from the ones from similar habitats.

Next, your students will illustrate their findings and create food chains by gluing their pictures on a piece of construction paper while drawing lines with arrows to what is being eaten (like the graphic below suggests). Or, for the more adventuresome, your students may cut out strips of paper as if making paper chains except have them write the organism's name on each strip. Be sure the strips are linked in the correct order.
Keep a log of interesting animal sites visited to create a page for next year's class.

COOPERATIVE GROUP IDEA: Assign each group of students a continent and allow the students to choose a native animal and create a food web that involves the particular animal.

Use the class' findings to create an ongoing food web on a bulletin board. Each day see if you can add several organisms to the board by pinning a labelled picture with string connecting the organisms.

EXTENSION: Have students create a 3D food web by using plastic animals, playdough, etc.
You may want to offer a contest to see who can create a food web using more than 75 organisms (it's easier than it sounds!).

Students may wish to send specific questions to scientists for answers or use HyperStudio to create a stack defining specific science vocabulary (ie: organism, predator, prey, food chain, food web, ...)

RELATED LINKS:

Food Chains
Food Chains in the Antarctic
Food Chains, Webs, and Pyramids with a hypercard stack to download.
Food Chains E-Mail Activity is an open-ended simulation game.

---

Return To Top

Return to Science & Technology

---

Page Maintained by Bruce Ellis

Originally Created: November 20. 1996
Last Update: March 22, 1998