Project Learning Tree’s “Web of Life” lets students investigate relationships between producers, consumers, and decomposers by acting as organisms connected by string in a food web. Want to make this lively activity have more energy? A fun musical variation to this activity is to assign a different sound to each plant. The consumers must say the respective sound when they feel the tug. Each organism must repeat the sounds that the previous organism said. (For example, hazelnut trees say “da,” oak trees say “dee,” raspberries say “mo,” grass says “tie.” The deer eats acorns and hazelnut trees so it will say “da, dee.” Rabbits eat raspberries and grass, so it will say “mo, tie.” Coyotes eat deer and rabbits, they will say “da, dee, mo, tie”) The top consumers will likely have so many sounds to say that they will have a difficult time remembering them.
Want to expand this activity? Try incorporating the following Project Learning Tree activities:
- Are Vacant Lots Vacant?
- Dynamic Duos
- Field, Forest and Stream
- Planet Diveristy
- School Yard Safari
Book List
Grades PrK-2
Hickman, P. 1997. Hungry Animals: My First Look at a Foodchain. Kids Can Press Ltd.
Johansson, P. 2004. Wide Open Grasslands: A Web of Life. Enslow Publishers, Incorporated.
Kitchen, B. 1994. When Hunger Calls. Candlewick Press.
Lauber, P. 1995. Who Eats What?: Food Chains and Food Webs. HarperCollins Publishers.
Mckinney, B.S. 2000. Pass the Energy, Please! Dawn Publications.
Relf, P. 1996. Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book about Food Chains. Scholastic, Inc.
Grades 3-5
Cole, J. 1996. The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten. A Book About Food Chains. Scholastic Inc.
Crenson, V. and R. Gurevich. 2003. Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web. Marshall Cavendish Inc.
Ellis, B. 2006. The Web at Dragonfly Pond. Dawn Publications.
Greenaway, T. 2001. Cycles in Nature Food Chain. Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers.
Heinz, B.J. 2006. Butternut Hollow Pond. Lerner Publishing Group.
Kalman, B. and J. Langille. 1998. What Are Food Chains and Webs? Crabtree.
Mason, C. 2003. Everybody's Somebody's Lunch: The Role of Predator and Prey in Nature. Tilbury House Publishers.
Nadeau, I. 2002. Food Chains in a Backyard Habitat. Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Nadeau, I. 2001. Food Chains in a Forest Habitat. Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Nadeau, I. 2002. Food Chains in a Meadow Habitat. Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Nadeau, I. 2001. Food Chains in a Pond Habitat. Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated.
Norsgaard, E.J. 1990. Nature's Great Balancing Act: In Our Own Backyard. Penguin Young Readers Group.
Penny, M. 1998. The Foodchain. The Bookwright Press.
Pringle, L.P. 1975. Chains, Webs and Pyramids: The Flow of Energy in Nature. HarperCollins Publishers.
Rice, D.L. 1997. Lifetimes. Dawn Publications.
Riley, P. 2002. Food Chains. Franklin Watts.
Spilsbury, L., Spilsbury R. 2004. Food Chains and Food Webs: From Producers to Decomposers. Heinemann Library.
Staub, F. 2004. World of Wonder; The Food Chain. Creative Education.
Grades 6-8
Capeci, A. 2003. Food Chain Frenzy (The Magic School Bus Chapter Book). Scholastic Inc.
Hemsley, W. 1992. Feeding to Digestion: Projects with Biology. Scholastic Library Publishing.
Silverstein, A. 1998. Food Chains. Lerner Publishing Group.
