Who Eats What?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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What Is a Food Chain?

A food chain shows how energy moves from one living thing to another.

It answers one big question.

• Who eats what?

Each step in the chain shows:

• what gets eaten

• what does the eating

Energy starts at the beginning and moves through each living thing.

It All Starts With the Sun

Every food chain begins with the sun.

Plants use sunlight to make their own food. These are called producers.

Examples of producers:

• grass

• trees

• algae in water

They do not eat other living things. They make their own food using sunlight.

The First Eaters: Consumers

Animals cannot make their own food, so they must eat other living things. These are called consumers.

There are different kinds of consumers.

Herbivores (plant eaters):

• deer

• rabbits

• caterpillars

Carnivores (meat eaters):

• snakes

• hawks

• lions

Omnivores (eat both plants and animals):

• bears

• humans

• raccoons

Breaking It Down

At the end of every food chain are decomposers.

These living things break down dead plants and animals.

Examples:

• worms

• fungi (like mushrooms)

• bacteria

They return nutrients to the soil so plants can grow again.

The cycle continues.

A Simple Food Chain

Here is one example:

grass — grasshopper — frog — snake — hawk

• The grass makes its own food.

• The grasshopper eats the grass.

• The frog eats the grasshopper.

• The snake eats the frog.

• The hawk eats the snake.

Each step passes energy along.

Food Chains Are Connected

In real life, food chains do not stand alone.

Most living things eat more than one kind of food. That means many food chains connect together.

These connections form a food web.

A food web shows many feeding relationships at once.

For example:

• A bird might eat insects, seeds, or small animals.

• A fox might eat rabbits, berries, or insects.

Everything is linked together.

What Happens When Something Changes?

If one part of a food chain changes, the whole system can shift.

For example:

• fewer frogs — more insects

• fewer plants — less food for herbivores

• more predators — fewer prey animals

Food chains help keep nature balanced.

Big Idea to Remember

A food chain shows how energy moves from one living thing to another, starting with the sun and moving through plants, animals, and decomposers.

Everything is connected, and every link matters.

You just learned how energy flows through living things and how food chains connect.

Next, it’s time to practice building and understanding food chains on your own.