🌿 Food chains
A five-minute lesson. Tap play and I’ll read every step, or read along and tap 🔊 on any step.
Everything needs food
Every living thing needs food for energy. A food chain shows what eats what.
It starts with the Sun
Plants use sunlight, air and water to make their own food. So every food chain starts with the Sun.
Plant-eaters
Plant-eaters, like zebras, eat grass and leaves.
Meat-eaters
Meat-eaters, like lions, eat other animals. So the Sun's energy goes from grass, to a zebra, to a lion.
Decomposers
When plants and animals die, tiny living things like fungi and bacteria break them down. That feeds the soil, and new plants grow.
An ocean food chain
In the sea, tiny floating plants are eaten by krill, and krill are eaten by the blue whale, the biggest animal alive.
Quiz: three questions
Draw it, and try it at home
Draw a food chain from a backyard or a park: the Sun, a plant, an animal that eats it, and arrows to show where the food goes. Then try this at home: At a meal, pick one food. Trace it back to the Sun: bread comes from wheat, and wheat grew in sunlight. Can you find a food that doesn't start with a plant?
For teachers: Grades 3–5
- NGSS 5-LS2-1: Matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.