New
New
Year 4

Creating food chains

I can carry out research and create food chains.

New
New
Year 4

Creating food chains

I can carry out research and create food chains.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Information about how living things depend on each other for food can be used to create food chains.
  2. The arrows in a food chain represent 'is food for'.
  3. Food chains consist of a producer and consumers, including predators and prey.
  4. Secondary sources of information help us to research what food different animals eat to survive.

Common misconception

Pupils often think the arrow in a food chain means “eats” or "depends on" and also that arrows should be drawn from predator to prey (rather than prey to predator).

This lesson reinforces the fact the the arrow in a food chain can be interpreted to mean 'is food for'.

Keywords

  • Food chain - A food chain shows how living things depend on each other for food.

  • Producer - A producer in a food chain makes its own food.

  • Predator - A predator is an animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals.

  • Prey - An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal is called prey.

  • Secondary sources - Secondary sources are texts, images or objects created using information gathered by others.

Encourage pupils to read the food chains aloud, and use the phrase 'is food for' in place of the arrow in each example.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Pupils will need to use books or the internet to help with their own research for Task B.

Content guidance

  • Exploration of objects
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which living thing is the producer in this food chain? Tree → giraffe → lion.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: Tree, the tree, tree
Q2.
Which living thing is a predator in this food chain? Rose plant → aphid → ladybird.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: ladybird, the ladybird
Q3.
Which living thing is prey in this food chain? Plant → caterpillar → blackbird.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: caterpillar, the caterpillar
Q4.
Which living things are consumers in this food chain?
An image in a quiz
the grass and the rabbit
Correct answer: the rabbit and the fox
the grass and the fox
the grass, the rabbit and the fox
Q5.
How could you find out what a bat eats?
An image in a quiz
carry out your own fair test investigation
Correct answer: carry out your own research
carry out your own prediction
Q6.
Which of these could you do to use secondary sources of information?
Correct answer: read non-fiction books
Correct answer: search the internet
Correct answer: ask an expert

6 Questions

Q1.
What information can be used to create a food chain?
How living things reproduce and have babies.
Where living things live in different parts of the world.
Correct answer: How living things depend on each other for food.
Q2.
Which part of a food chain represents: "is food for"?
the plant
the animals
Correct answer: the arrows
the labels
Q3.
What do we call the living thing at the start of a food chain?
Correct answer: the producer
the protector
the predator
Q4.
Match the type of animal in a food chain with its definition.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer:consumer,An animal that eats other animals or plants.

An animal that eats other animals or plants.

Correct Answer:predator,An animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals.

An animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals.

Correct Answer:prey,An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

Q5.
Laura carries out some research to create this food chain: mouse is food for a badger, badger is food for a bobcat. What is missing from her food chain?
consumer
predator
prey
Correct answer: producer
Q6.
We can research what food different animals eat to survive using sources of information.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: secondary, secondary sources