Take your students to a nature scavenger hunt to discover different parts of a food web! Students will search for living and nonliving elements in their environment and categorize them as producers, consumers, or decomposers. Students will then build a diagram together and discuss how the parts of a food web interact and rely on each other. The lesson will conclude with a reflection on the importance of balance in ecosystems.
Objectives
| Learn about the food web concept. |
| Identify living and nonliving components of an ecosystem. |
| Recognize the roles of producers, consumers, organisms, and decomposers in a food web. |
| Describe how plants and animals depend on each other for survival. |
Recommended Materials
School Signals Food Web worksheets (PDF)
Pencils/pen
Scissors
Tape
Whiteboard or poster board
Grade Levels
Details
Step 1, ENGAGE
“What’s for dinner?” Get students thinking about what plants and animals eat.
Begin with a short discussion using the guiding questions below.
Guiding questions:
What do animals need to grow and survive?
What do plants need to grow and survive?
What do animals eat?
What do plants eat?
Can you think of something many different animals eat?
Show students pictures of animals eating plants (e.g., a rabbit eating grass) and predators hunting prey (e.g., a hawk catching a mouse).
Introduce the terms producer, consumer, and decomposer. You can teach this by giving information in a straightforward way or by telling a simple, interactive story (e.g., “A leaf grows, a rabbit eats the leaf, a fox eats the rabbit…”).
Producer – A living thing that makes its own food, usually using sunlight.
Example: A tree or a flower.
Consumer – A living thing that eats plants or other animals for energy.
Example: A rabbit (eats plants) or a fox (eats other animals).
Decomposer – A living thing that breaks down dead plants and animals.
Example: A mushroom or a worm.
Recommended video: The Food Web by Odyssey Earth
Step 2, EXPLORE
Food Web Scavenger Hunt
Take students outside to a safe, natural area (trail, open space, park, or garden). Hand out scavenger hunt checklists with requests to:
✅ Find something that makes its own food (plant – producer)
✅ Find something that eats plants (herbivore – consumer)
✅ Find something that eats other animals (carnivore – consumer)
✅ Find something that helps break down dead things (fungi, insects – decomposer)
✅ Find something that is nonliving but part of the ecosystem (sun, water, soil)
Encourage students to draw what they find. You can ask students to find as many of each as they can if you want to challenge them a bit more.
–> Use The School Signals Food Web Scavenger Hunt Worksheet.
Step 3, EVALUATE
Building the Web
Gather students and discuss: “What did you find? How do these things connect?”
As a class, create a simple food web by creating a diagram with labels (Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers) on a white board or poster board. Have students cut out their drawings and place them in the correct area. Connect the different organisms with arrows showing relationships between organisms. Guide them to understand the importance of balance in nature.
Guiding Questions:
What would happen if one part of the food web disappeared?
What if something new was introduced into an ecosystem? (invasive species perhaps)
By Abbey Banta for School Signals
@2025 School Signals. All rights reserved.
