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Food Chains: A Wildlife Trail with Fern the Frog

Food Chains: A Wildlife Trail with Fern the Frog

Learn how food chains work and spot producers, predators and prey, by building chains in woods, ponds and seashores with Fern the frog.

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What you'll learn

  • What a producer is and why every food chain starts with one
  • How green plants make their own food using sunlight, water and air
  • What the arrows in a food chain mean and which way they point
  • How to tell predators from prey, and spot animals that are both
  • How to construct food chains with up to five living things
  • What might happen in a food chain if one animal disappears

Chapter by chapter

  1. Producers: green plants that make their own food Free to try

    Year 4 science · 1

  2. Food chain arrows: showing what is food for what

    Year 4 science · 1

  3. Predators and prey: hunters, the hunted and animals that are both

    Year 4 science · 1

  4. Constructing food chains in different habitats

    Year 4 science · 1

  5. Interpreting food chains: what eats what, and what happens if something changes

    Year 4 science · 1

  6. Food Chain Champion Challenge (10 questions)

What the chapters cover in the national curriculum in England:

  1. Year 4 science: Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey

About this adventure

Food Chain Trail is an interactive science game that teaches children aged 7–10 how food chains work and how to identify producers, predators and prey, matching Year 4 science in England. Fern the frog, a friendly wildlife ranger, narrates every step.

Children travel along a trail map through a meadow, a wood, a pond and a seashore. They grow a seedling with sunlight, flip arrows that point the wrong way, tap or drag living things into order, sort animals into baskets and answer 'what if' questions about changing numbers of animals.

Along the way they meet the key ideas: a producer is a green plant that makes its own food; each arrow means 'is food for'; a predator hunts and eats other animals; prey are the animals that get eaten; and the top predator sits at the end of the chain.

Questions and answers

What is a food chain, in simple words?

A food chain shows which living thing is food for which, starting with a green plant. Arrows point from the food to the animal that eats it, so grass → rabbit → fox means grass is food for the rabbit and the rabbit is food for the fox.

What is a producer in a food chain?

A producer is a green plant that makes its own food using sunlight, water and air. Every food chain starts with a producer, such as grass, leaves, pondweed or seaweed, because that is where the food in the chain begins.

What is the difference between a predator and prey?

A predator is an animal that hunts and eats other animals, and prey is an animal that gets hunted and eaten. Many animals are both: a blue tit eats caterpillars, but it is also hunted by hawks.

What age is this food chain game for?

It is made for children aged 7 to 10. It matches the Year 4 science statement in England's national curriculum: construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

What does the food chain game include and how long does it take?

It has five chapters on a trail map, an optional warm-up and a 10-question final challenge, with narration and sound effects throughout. Playing everything takes about 45 minutes, and children can start from any chapter.

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