The Homeschool Resource

• Food webs are a concept in biology that show how energy flows in an ecosystem by connecting living things together by what they eat.

• Children are introduced to food chains and food webs in elementary grades. Upper grades then build on those lessons by adding in the ideas of trophic levels; producers, consumers, and decomposers; and energy flow.

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What are Food Webs?

A food web is a model that shows how living things are interconnected through what they eat and how energy moves through an ecosystem. It is essentially several food chains put together to show how organisms rely on one another for survival. Every link on the web is generally connected to two other links.

 Food webs are split into trophic levels. Most food webs contain four to five trophic levels. The first level hosts producers; plants. They receive their energy directly from the sun. The second level contains herbivores that eat those plants. They are considered primary consumers. Secondary consumers – carnivores or omnivores that eat the herbivores – are on level three. Trophic level four is where tertiary consumers, carnivores that eat other carnivores, are located. The animals that are at the top of the food web are called apex predators; they have no natural predators of their own. 

Producers, consumers, and decomposers make up the food web in every ecosystem. Producers, such as plants and algae, produce energy for an ecosystem by absorbing energy from the sun through photosynthesis and using nutrients and water in the soil. They are the only organisms in an ecosystem that produce energy. Animals are consumers. They cannot make their own energy and must get it by eating producers. Decomposers eat the decaying matter of dead plants and animals. This helps to put nutrients back into the soil which circles back to helping the producers make energy.

When one link in the food web is threatened or weakened, it impacts the entire ecosystem. Therefore, each link is important for the survival of others. Producers, consumers, and decomposers all work together to keep the ecosystem healthy. This connectivity is the basis of food webs.

My Food Web Pages

Learning about food webs is important for children. It is a part of the biology branch of science and leads into many more concepts. Not only does it include topics like ecosystems; producers, consumers, and decomposers; and the cycle of life, but it teaches how all living organisms are connected. When teaching your child about food webs consider the differences in different ecosystems. Also introduce how links are affected by a decline or increase in population of another link. These concepts are part of the elementary level science standards that are then built upon by middle and high school grades. The relationship between organisms and how energy flows will be a basic learning platform for many years of your child’s education.

My food web pages are a great way to introduce your child to food webs. The packet includes a 2-page reading passage with a corresponding comprehension questions worksheet. This reading passage is an informative piece introducing food webs and concepts such as trophic levels; producers, consumers, and decomposers; apex predators; and herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. It also includes a trophic levels true/false questions worksheet, in which they can use the reading passage again to answer; a producers, consumers, and decomposers matching worksheet; a  food web constructed response worksheet; and answer keys. Also included are 4 food web pages (forest, artic, desert, and ocean) that can be used as examples, reviews, or as posters to hang up during your food web lessons.

The food web packet can be found here on my TeachersPayTeachers store if you are looking for some worksheets or posters to go with your teaching unit.

Food Web Project

For our food web project, I let my kids make their own model of a food web. I allow them to choose which habitat they want to use. Afterwards they do a little research on that specific ecosystem. Then they choose how they want to set up their food web and which animals they want to use. Then I have them make a collage that shows the flow of energy in their chosen habitat.

This can be done in several ways. One way is to have your child draw the animals and plants to show the flow of energy. This can be entwined with an art class about drawing animals or nature. Another option is to have your child cut out animals and glue them down onto paper. They can find pictures in old magazines or print out pictures of animals to add to the food web. I like to do this with a poster board instead of regular paper. That way no matter what the size of the animals are that they cut out they can still make their entire food web. A third way is to use animal stickers to show the energy flow. For all three of these they may need to draw or print out the producers. Of course, doing this online is also an option. Have your child set up a google doc with a food web using online pictures or have them design a slideshow on google slides or PowerPoint.

They can go wild and get as creative as they would like with any of these options. Drawing backgrounds for their chosen ecosystems, seeing how many animals they can add into their food web, or choosing cool backgrounds and transitions for their online food web can all make this hands-on activity even more fun and engaging.

What types of activities do you like to do with your children to help them learn about food webs and corresponding concepts? Share your favorites with the community in the comments below.