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Food Chains: Build a World and Find Out Who Eats Whom

Food Chains

Build a World and Find Out Who Eats Whom

Learn how food chains work by building a living world: grow grass with sunlight, feed a hungry rabbit, meet a fox and link up who eats whom.

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What you'll learn

  • Why plants are called producers and need sunlight and water
  • What a food chain is and why it starts with a plant
  • That each arrow in a food chain means "is eaten by"
  • The difference between a predator and its prey
  • How one animal, like a blue tit, can be predator and prey
  • What happens to animals when one link in a food chain disappears

About this adventure

Food Chains is a free interactive game that teaches children aged 6–9 how living things get their food and who eats whom. Guided by Sunny the Sun, players build a world one step at a time, tapping and dragging to make things happen.

They wake the Sun, rain on seeds and watch grass grow, learning that plants are producers because they make their own food from sunlight. A hungry rabbit eats the grass, then a fox arrives to hunt it, showing the difference between a predator and its prey. Up in an oak tree, a blue tit eats a caterpillar but hides from a sparrowhawk, so it is both.

Players see what happens when the grass disappears, then build a pond food chain on their own. Along the way they learn that each arrow means "is eaten by". The game fits the Year 2 science topic on living things and their habitats.

Questions and answers

What is a food chain, in simple words?

A food chain shows which living things eat which, passing energy from one to the next. It always starts with a plant, such as grass, which is eaten by an animal like a rabbit, which may then be eaten by a fox.

What do the arrows in a food chain mean?

The arrows mean "is eaten by", so they point from the food to the animal that eats it. In the chain grass, rabbit, fox, the grass is eaten by the rabbit and the rabbit is eaten by the fox.

What is the difference between a predator and prey?

A predator is an animal that hunts and eats other animals, and prey is the animal that gets hunted. Some animals are both: a blue tit is a predator when it eats caterpillars, but prey when a sparrowhawk hunts it.

What age is this food chain game for?

It is designed for children aged 6–9 and fits the Year 2 science topic on living things and their habitats. Short spoken instructions and an animated pointing hand help younger readers know what to do next.

How long does the food chain game take to play?

Most children finish all six short chapters in about 15 minutes. The game includes a meadow, an oak tree and a pond, a star for each chapter, and a final challenge where players build a pond food chain on their own.

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