Location Resources Equipment Instructions. Curriculum Links. Learning Objectives

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1 Food Chains KEY Location Resources Equipment Instructions Curriculum Links Science: Living things and their habitats Food chains Learning Objectives To understand the way in which plants and animals represent feeding relationships in a habitat and that food chains start with a plant. Introduction The pack is suitable for use with a maximum of 30 participants divided into up to 5 groups. Instructions showing how to use the activities. Materials and equipment for 5 groups and their leaders. 1 Activities Silent Food Chain Foxes and Rabbits Produced by OPAL Yorkshire and Humber based at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York. Contact opalproject@york.ac.uk 1

2 Using the Site Please begin your visit with a talk about using the site. Wildlife sites are home to many mammals, plants and insects and you ll meet some of them on your visit, please treat them with respect. Sometimes special zones are set aside for wildlife to retreat to when the site is busy with people so please don t use such areas on your visit. The site may have lots of human visitors who come to enjoy the wildlife please keep it looking good. When you have completed an activity, please try to put everything back as you found it, e.g. turn any dead wood you have looked underneath back over or scatter the leaves you picked discretely. If there are any ponds and wet areas in the site you are using, make sure you know where those areas are and check that participants are supervised. Checklist Resources for group leaders: Resources and equipment for participants: Silent Food Chain instructions Foxes and Rabbits instructions Food Chains cards Four scarves or bibs of one colour Scarves or bibs of a different colour for remaining participants Four corner markers Six hula hoops 40 bean bags 2

3 Silent Food Chain Anywhere Food Chain cards There are six sets of five cards which can be used to make a food chain. Divide the group up into six smaller groups, each with a set of cards. The idea is that each participant takes a card and then the groups need to work cooperatively to work out the correct order to stand in to show the relationships between the organisms. Participants can show their cards to other group members and use the pictures and the information on the back to help get the cards in order, all without talking. Finish with a feedback session where each group explains the order that they have made. Now start to consider what animals and plants you might find in the site and where they might fit in a food chain. The order of the sets of cards is as follows: Sun, grass, rabbit, dung beetle, fox Sun, oak tree, caterpillar, robin, kestrel Sun, dandelion, snail, thrush, fox Sun, leaf litter, worm, blackbird, sparrow hawk Leaf litter, woodlouse, hedgehog, fox, carrion crow Dandelion, slug, frog, grass snake, jay 3

4 Foxes and Rabbits This needs a relatively large and flat area, free from trip hazards Four scarves or bibs of one colour, scarves or bibs of a different colour for remaining participants, four corner markers, six hula hoops, 40 bean bags For this game, you need coloured tails to denote foxes and rabbits that can be tucked into the back of the waistband. Scarves are ideal for this, but if you don t have them, then you could use something like P.E. bibs in two different colours. Mark the boundary of the play area with the four markers, the area should be about 20m x 20m, but this is not critical. Divide the participants into two groups, the foxes and the rabbits. If you have 30 participants there should be four foxes and 26 rabbits. The foxes tie their scarves around their upper arm (or wear a P.E. bib), the rabbits tuck their tail into their waistband or back pocket. Line up all the rabbits at one end of the playing area. At the other end of the area, scatter the bean bags. These represent food. In the middle of the playing area, scatter the six hulahoops. These are rabbit holes, temporary hiding spots that the rabbits can use. The foxes begin the game ranged throughout the playing area. They may not enter the hula-hoops, nor can they guard them. In order to survive, each rabbit must collect three bean bags. However, they can only take one bean bag to the far end of the playing field at a time, and make it back to their starting point before returning for a second or a third. The foxes need to tag two rabbits and collect their scarves in order to survive. Dead rabbits sit on the sidelines until the end of the round. In order to cross the playing area to get to their food supply, the rabbits will have to be crafty! There are two ways they can avoid being tagged by the foxes. They can freeze (they must stand as still as possible); the foxes cannot see frozen rabbits and must ignore their presence (e.g., no guarding frozen rabbits!). Rabbits can also jump into the hula-hoop in order to avoid being tagged but only one rabbit per hoop at any one time! Each round of the game lasts 5 minutes. This will help encourage timid rabbits to come out of their hiding places in search of food because if they don t have enough at the end of the round they re dead! Adapted from Project Wild, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 4

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6 Leaf litter Dead leaves fall to the ground and gradually get turned into soil. Sun Leaf litter Dead leaves fall to the ground and gradually get turned into soil. Sun Oak Trees Plants use their green leaves to take up energy from the sun Sun Dandelions Green plants are able to take up energy from the sun Sun

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8 Dandelions Green plants are able to take up energy from the sun Grasses Green plants are able to take up energy from the sun Earthworms Eat dead plants in the soil Caterpillars Rabbits Snails Hedgehogs Eat all kinds of insects, earthworms, slugs and snails Dung Beetle Eat what animals leave behind!

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10 Frogs Eat insects, earthworms, slugs and snails Woodlouse Eat dead plant matter Robin Mainly eats insects Slug Fox Favourite food is rabbits and other small mammals but will also dig for earthworms and beetles Song Thrush An omnivore, eats earthworms, snails, insects and soft fruit Kestrel Eats small birds and mammals Blackbird An omnivore, eats earthworms, snails, insects and soft fruit

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12 Sparrowhawk Main prey is birds Grass snake Eats frogs, toads and earthworms Carrion crow Eats meat but doesn t catch it s own prey Fox Favourite food is rabbits and other small mammals but will also dig for earthworms and beetles Jay Eats small birds and mammals Fox Favourite food is rabbits and other small mammals but will also dig for earthworms and beetles