Station 2: Beaver Dam

Class Activity: Weaving the Web

Adapted from USDA Ag in the Classroom

Materials: print-out cards with pictures of wetlands plants and animals, ball of yarn, tape and scissors (optional)

• Introduction: All living things need energy
  • Where do plants get energy? The Sun
  • Where do animals get energy? Food
  • Different animals will eat different kinds of food for energy. As animals eat, energy flows through each food item they eat as if it were a link-- to create a food chain.
  • Animals do not eat the same thing every day, so they may be part of many different food chains.
  • Display Food Chain Example rings; in this activity, we will create multiple food chains, or a Food Web
• Pass out printed cards of plants and animals to students and allow students to tape one card each on their chest
• Have students form a circle and take turns reading out their plant or animal
  • The student with the Sun picture should stand in the center
  • Ask students to consider who in the circle they might give their energy to (who might eat me?) and who in the circle could give me energy (whom might eat me?)
• Begin constructing a food chain by handing the end of the ball of yarn to the Sun; the yarn will represent energy passing through links in the food chain
  • The Sun will hold onto the end of the piece of yarn, and pass the ball to a plant that would get energy from the Sun
  • The student who received the ball of yarn from the sun will hold onto the string and pass the ball of yarn to an animal that may eat them (a herbivore)
  • The herbivore will hold onto the string and pass the ball of yarn to someone who may eat them (a carnivore)
  • Students will continue to pass the ball of yarn, while holding the string, until the food chain reaches a Carnivore or predator that does not get eaten by anything
  • After the ball of yarn reaches the top of the food chain, the instructor will either cut the string or ask the student with the ball of yarn to pass the ball back to the Sun (still holding the piece of string), to create a new food chain
• Construct enough food chains so that all students are participating
  • Some students will be involved in many food chains, and it may become difficult to hold on to all of the pieces of string!
• Take-away: Many food chains make up Food Webs, which describe how energy flows through an entire ecosystem. Food webs are often complicated, since they can involve a large variety of plants and animals that all eat different things.
• Further Learning: What would happen if some species were removed from the food web?