Knowledge Explorer lesson
Food Chains
What is a food chain?
A food chain shows what eats what. It also shows how energy moves from one living thing to another.
Most food chains start with the Sun. Plants are producers: they use sunlight, air, and water to make their own food.
Animals are consumers: they get energy by eating plants or other animals. A grasshopper eats grass, a frog eats the grasshopper, and a hawk eats the frog.
Animals help plants, too. When bees visit flowers to drink nectar, they carry pollen from flower to flower. This helps plants make seeds and fruit.
What you will learn
- Explain that a food chain shows how energy moves
- Identify producers and consumers
- Describe how bees help plants
Key facts
- The energy in most food chains starts with the Sun.
- Plants are producers. They make their own food using sunlight.
- Animals are consumers. They eat plants or other animals for energy.
- In a food chain, each arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.
- Bees carry pollen from flower to flower, which helps plants make seeds.