by Joan Collins

Created on: March 29, 2010

Is your class getting ready to study the food chain?  Create lessons that are both fun and informative.  As you know, they will remember the lessons they are involved in much longer and more clearly.  Make great connections for your students with these food chain lesson plan ideas.

Teach your students the basics of the food chain.  Producers, who get their energy from the sun, are eaten by herbivores.  Herbivores are eaten by carnivores.  Carnivores are broken down by decomposers and fertilize the producers.

Working in groups, let students create food chains for the diverse areas on the planet.  There is an ocean food chain, a meadow food chain, an arctic food chain, a pond food chain and a forest food chain.  Have each group create a mural of a different food chain and explain to the class how their food chain works.  Be sure the include producers, carnivores, herbivores, and decomposers. 

Let students reinforce what they have learned by playing one of three online food chain games.  You can fill in the food chain for the meadow, arctic and pond food web.  It is a simple game that provides instant feedback for the players.  More online lessons and interactive experiences can be found at the Sheppard Software website.

Head out to the playground or the gym.  Give each child a large piece of paper.  The paper will say producer, herbivore, or carnivore.  Whatever the paper says, that becomes the child's role in the food chain.  Tape the sign to their back.  The producers will be eaten by the herbivores.  When a producer gets tagged, the two link arms.  The carnivore tries to catch the herbivore and when he is successful, they link arms.  Remind the students that they can only eat their own food supply.  Another variation of this game can be found online.  You will need sashes for frogs, grasshoppers and hawks as well as a bag of popcorn.  

For a final exam, don't ask questions.  Have your students reproduce a food chain diagram for you, using arrows to show the direction the pictures move in and a small explanation of each.  With all the visual and physical experiences your students have encountered during your lessons, you can be sure you will be able to give high scores for all of your students.

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