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Science
Select a Standard
Growing up with time (Std I)
Know Your Body (Std I)
Discover the word (Std II)
Get the pests – you are the best (Std II)
Unscramble the jumble (Std III)
Teething Problems (Std III)
Starch in Me? (Std IV)
Internal Affairs (Std IV)
Food Web (Std V)
The sky above you (Std V)
Crystal Creation (Std VI)
We are there but cannot be seen (Std VI)
Formula of chemical compounds (Std VII)
Element word search (Std VII)
Food Web (Std V)
Given an opportunity, children would love group activities. For a change, one can introduce such activities in a class. This not only brings in variety, but also leaves a lasting impression on the young minds. Needless to say, learning becomes effective too. Many a time, these activities increase the curiosity in a child to know what they would be learning and how.
Here is one such activity to introduce the lesson on Food Chain and Food Web. 1 period may be required to conduct this activity i.e. stage I. 2 to 3 periods may be required for the follow - up work i.e. stage II. The time required is subject to the understanding level of the students.
Objectives
To help students to
  • form food chains
  • identify a) the starting point of each food chain
  • primary and secondary consumers
  • state the relationship between food chain and food web

What's in Anchor
Materials required

  • 20 cards of dimension 10 cm 15 cm on which the following pictures are pasted 
  • Pictures of animals, plants and plant products like cow, deer, tiger, lion, fox, giraffe, frog, worm, insect, vulture, eagle, crow, grass, leaves, grains of rice, wheat and maize (cut from old newspapers or magazines)
  • A ball of twine 
    Instruction to the teachers
    Stage I
  • Stick the pictures on the cards (one on each). (In case pictures are not available, write the names itself)
  • Punch holes on the top of cards so that they can be tagged on to the child’s dress.
  • Distribute one card to each child and ask them to pin it to their shirt.
  • Then, ask all the students to stand in a circle.
  • Through questions, elicit the food of each animal.
  • Next, help them form a food chain, linking the food of each animal.
    Ask them to identify the starting point of the food chain. Let that child hold the end of the twine and pass the ball of twine to the rest of students in that food chain. Then, cut the twine.
  • Repeat the activity with other children to form as many food chains as possible.
  •  Let the rest of the class observe and interact.
    Stage II
    Help them recall the meaning of producers, primary and secondary consumers, introduce these terms and help them to identify the same. Explain the relationship between food chains and food web.
    Ask the students to observe the food web and answer questions of the type:
    i) Which is the shortest / longest food chain?
    ii) Name two animals that are a part of more than one food chain.
    iii) Name an animal that eats another animal as well as gets eaten by another.
    iv) Why isn’t lion a primary consumer?
    v) Why can’t there be more than one producer in one food chain?
    Suggestions: This activity can be used to explain the ‘Ecological Balance’ in nature.