Food web activity with yarn: a 25-minute ecosystem game, grades 3–5

1. Hand out cards and have students stand in a circle. Ask: "Where does all the energy in this circle start?" The sun. Point out that the sun is not a living thing, but plants capture its energy to make food.
2. The sun holds the end of the yarn and passes the ball to a plant, holding on to the strand. Ask: "Who eats grass?" The grass passes to a rabbit or a deer, still holding on. The yarn always goes from food to the eater, the same direction energy flows.
3. Keep connecting. Examples: oak tree to squirrel, berry bush to mouse, grasshopper to frog, frog to snake, mouse to owl, rabbit to fox, mouse to hawk. Some students will hold several strands. That's the point: most animals eat more than one thing.
4. Bring in the decomposers. Ask: "What happens when the hawk dies, or leaves fall?" Connect the animals and plants to the earthworm and mushroom, then connect those back to the plants: decomposers return nutrients to the soil.
5. Everyone pulls the yarn gently tight. Announce a change: "A drought kills most of the grass." The grass gives one tug. Anyone who feels it raises a hand.

Debrief: draw part of the web on the board with arrows pointing from food to eater, and name producers, consumers and decomposers.

Differentiation: for students who need support, add a small picture to each card and start with a simple chain of four before building the web. For advanced students, label each organism herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. For English learners, post producer, consumer, decomposer and energy with an arrow diagram. For students with mobility needs, play seated around a table, and let students who dislike being tugged hold a strand loosely or be the caller who announces changes.

Quick check: students draw a three-step food chain with arrows in the correct direction and label one producer and one consumer.

If you try it, tell us which "what if" change surprised your class most.