Science Fenns K-5Grades K to 5
A grassy Texas pasture with grass, a grasshopper, a horned lizard, a hawk and the Sun above, drawn as connected links.

Science / All lessons / Living Things and Where They Live

Food Chains

Follow the energy. Then remove a link.

Lesson 36 of 41

Try this first

Before we start

Today’s story

Food Chains

Look at a pasture. Grass grows in the sun. A grasshopper eats the grass. A lizard eats the grasshopper. A hawk eats the lizard.

This line of who eats whom is a food chain. Energy moves along it. It starts with the Sun. Plants use sunlight to make food. Animals get energy by eating plants or other animals.

Each link depends on the one before it. What if one link goes missing? Let's follow the steps.

See it

Five steps. Every time.

    Hands on

    Food Chain Cards

    25 minutes · Do this with a grown-up nearby

    You need

    • Index cards
    • Markers
    • A long piece of yarn
    • Tape
    • Paper and pencil

    Do this

    1. Write Sun, grass, grasshopper, lizard and hawk on cards.
    2. Line them up on a table in order.
    3. Use yarn to connect each link.
    4. Remove the grasshopper card and cut its yarn.
    5. Say what happens to the lizard.
    6. Try again with a different link removed.
    Write or draw: Draw the chain with arrows. Write a prediction for what happens when one link is removed.

    Watch for: Notice which links are hurt first. Notice which links are hurt later.

    Safety: Use blunt scissors and cut yarn on the table, not in the air.

    Same every time

    Three rules

    Rule 1Arrows show energy.

    They point from food to eater.

    Rule 2Every link matters.

    Taking one away changes the rest.

    Rule 3Predict, then check.

    A good guess has a reason.

    Grandpa Fenn’s notebook

    Say it like a scientist

    food chain
    A line showing who eats whom and where energy goes.
    producer
    A living thing, like a plant, that makes its own food.
    consumer
    A living thing that eats other living things.
    energy
    What living things need to grow and move.

    Poppy’s quiz

    Six questions

    Tap an answer. Green means right. You will see why.

    Talk about it

    Say it out loud

    • How do you know the Sun gives the energy? What is your evidence?
    • What is a food chain you could find in your own yard?
    Did you know

    A single cow can eat dozens of pounds of grass in a day.

    Someone who does this

    An ecologist studies how living things depend on each other.

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