Plants , Deer ,Lion
To help your kids understand what a food
chain is and how predators fit into food chains,
have them sing or act out "There Once Was a
Daisy", a rhyme based on the familiar children's
song called "There Was an Old Lady (Who Swallowed a
Fly)." But before the kids "perform," discuss the concept of food chains.
Food Chains
Food chains are the routes along which energy flows through a natural community. Most communities have several food chains, many of which interconnect.
Two or more interconnecting food chains make up what’s known as a food
web. No matter what type of natural community you’re talking about—a pine
forest, a desert, or a coral reef, for example—the flow of energy almost always
starts with the sun. So the sun is an important link in food chains. Through
photosynthesis, plants—another link—convert the sun’s energy into a form the
plants can use.
The flow of energy continues as animals such as rabbits and deer eat the
plants in their communities. Predators eat the plant-eating animals (and also
some of the plants), and some of these predators are eaten by top predators.
But the flow of energy doesn’t end with predators. They and all of the other
organisms in a community eventually die, and their bodies are broken down in
to simpler compounds by decomposers such as bacteria and fungi. The decomposed matter adds nutrients to the soil, encouraging plant growth. And a “new”
food chain gets started.
Performance
When you've finished reviewing food chains, have the kids perform "There
Once Was a Daisy." Pass out copies of the rhyme and either have the kids sing
it (the tune is basically the same as that of "There Was an Old Lady") or have
them act it out as a mini-play. Here's how to put on the play:
1. Write the words daisy, bug, wren, snake, fox, and last verse on separate slips
of paper and put them into a sack.
2. Divide the group into six teams and have each team pick one of the slips
of paper. Each team will be reciting the lines that correspond to the plant or
animal written on the slip. (See the rhyme for the specific lines each team will
recite.)
3. Pass out a copy of the rhyme to each person and have the kids underline or
highlight the lines in each verse that their team will be reciting.
4. When it's time for the mini-play to start, have all of the teams line up, side
by side, in the order they'll be saying their lines. Have the daisy
team start the play by reciting the entire first verse. The bug team
should follow by reciting the first two lines of the second verse: