3rd Grade Science

Investigating ecosystems, matter, and energy through hands-on experiments and observations.

Advanced Topics

Food Chains and Food Webs

How Do Living Things Get Energy?

All living things need energy to survive. In nature, energy moves from one organism to another through food chains and food webs.

Food Chains

A food chain shows how each living thing gets food. It usually starts with a plant (producer), which is eaten by an animal (consumer), and then maybe by another animal.

Example food chain:

  • Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake

Food Webs

In real life, most animals eat more than one thing. Food webs show how different food chains are connected, making a big, tangled map of who eats whom!

Why It Matters

If one part of the food web disappears, it can affect every other part.

Try This!

  • Draw a food chain using animals you see in your backyard or park.
  • Make a food web by connecting several food chains together.

Examples

  • A rabbit eats grass, and then a fox eats the rabbit.

  • Birds eat both seeds and insects, linking different food chains together.

In a Nutshell

Food chains and webs show how energy flows through living things in an ecosystem.

Key Terms

Producer
A plant that makes its own food from sunlight.
Consumer
An animal that eats plants or other animals.
Decomposer
A living thing that breaks down dead plants and animals.
Food Chains and Food Webs - 3rd Grade Science Content | Practice Hub