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Food chains: producers, consumers, predators and prey A food chain shows what eats what in a habitat. The arrows point in the direction energy moves: grass → rabbit → fox means the rabbit eats the grass and the fox eats the rabbit.
Ages 7–11 (rough guide)
Level Foundation
Subject Science
Time 15–20 minutes
Format Online + printable
Stage UK Year 4 · roughly US Grades 3–5 1 Learn it2 See it worked3 Try it online4 Print it5 Check your answerBefore you start
Who it's for and what to know first Knows that plants and animals need food to live and grow.
Food chains almost always start with a green plant, the producer. Plants make their own food from sunlight by photosynthesis. Animals are consumers. A herbivore eats plants, a carnivore eats animals, an omnivore eats both. A predator hunts other animals; the animals it eats are its prey. An animal can be both — a bird is a predator of caterpillars and prey for a hawk. The animal at the end of the chain that nothing else eats (in that chain) is the top predator. If one link disappears, the others change. Fewer foxes usually means more rabbits, which then eat more grass. Worked example 1
leaf → caterpillar → blue tit → sparrowhawk. Name the producer, the prey of the blue tit and the top predator. The chain starts with the leaf — the producer. The blue tit eats the caterpillar. Nothing eats the sparrowhawk in this chain. Answer: Producer: leaf. Prey: caterpillar. Top predator: sparrowhawk.
Try it online · print it · check it
Practice questions Foundation · ages 7–11
Food chains Name Date
Write one word or a short phrase.
1. In grass → rabbit → fox, which is the producer? 2. In grass → rabbit → fox, which is the predator? 3. Where do producers get their energy from? 4. In leaf → caterpillar → bird → hawk, which is the top predator? 5. Is a caterpillar a producer or a consumer? 6. What is the process plants use to make food? 7. If all the foxes disappeared, would rabbits increase or decrease? 8. What do we call an animal that eats plants and animals? Write one word or a short phrase.
1. In grass → rabbit → fox, which is the producer? grass 2. In grass → rabbit → fox, which is the predator? fox 3. Where do producers get their energy from? the sun 4. In leaf → caterpillar → bird → hawk, which is the top predator? hawk 5. Is a caterpillar a producer or a consumer? consumer 6. What is the process plants use to make food? photosynthesis 7. If all the foxes disappeared, would rabbits increase or decrease? increase 8. What do we call an animal that eats plants and animals? omnivore Drawing arrows the wrong way. The arrow points to the eater: grass → rabbit. Starting a chain with an animal instead of a plant. Thinking ‘predator’ and ‘carnivore’ always mean the same thing. Last reviewed: 25 September 2026
