Food Chains
Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Identify predator and prey and
the food eaten by different
animals and link this
Explore and Discover. .
information into a food chain.
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Use keys to identify animals.
Galleries visited
(please see accompanying map)
Mammals
Mammals (blue whale)
Suitable for
Key Stage 2 (ages seven to 11)
Curriculum links
QCA Science Unit 4B: Habitats
QCA Science Unit 3A: Teeth & Eating
NC Science: Life Processes & Living Things 4a, 5d, 5e
Example page
www.nhm.ac.uk/foodchains-ks2
Pre-visit preparation
• vocabulary: predator, prey, camouflage, hunt, adapted, adaptation,
food chain, key
• an understanding of predator/prey relationships
• able to construct simple food chains, using arrows to show energy flow
• to have experience of using and constructing simple keys
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Activities within the guide
The children wil be asked to complete six chal enges
Challenge
Location
Description
Learn about artiodactyls and
1. Prey survival chal enge
their adaptations
Use exhibits in the gal ery to complete
2. Complete a key chal enge
two identification keys
Choose a predator… and then
3. Mammal interview chal enge
interview it
Find out what wild dogs eat and create
4. Food chain chal enge
some food chains
Use information in the gal ery to create
5. Marvel ous menus chal enge
a menu fit for a wild boar and a caribou
Choose which animal should win a
6. Predator power chal enge
predator power award
These can be done in any order within the two gal eries. Depending on how many chal enges the
children complete, they can reach these levels:
• researcher (two chal enges completed)
• scientist (four chal enges completed)
• professor (six chal enges completed)
Certificates
On return to school, certificates (available at the end of this document) can be printed out and
awarded, depending on the number of chal enges completed.
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Techniques
There are a range of techniques used within the guide. To complete the chal enge,
children wil be required to:
• extract information from displays
• make choices based on observation
• write short answers
• choose appropriate descriptive vocabulary
• make decisions about an animal’s adaptations based on physical features
• make sketches
• discuss answers with a partner
• extract information from exhibits and their information boards
• use the gal ery to find examples of certain adaptations
• use their imagination to create an exciting menu
Follow-up activities
• Award ceremony
Print out certificates and have an award ceremony.
• Literacy: Speaking & Listening
Discuss the experiences had at the Museum and the chal enges that were undertaken.
• Literacy – Menus
Create some exciting menu cards based on the ideas from the Museum. Extend this
menu to attract other animals to the restaurant. Use persuasive language to make the
food on offer sound as attractive as possible. Design adverts to promote the restaurant.
• Literacy – Interviews
Further extend the interview that was started in the Museum. Act out and record these
interviews for others to share.
• Science
Make keys to identify some of the other animals in the gal eries.
• Artiodactyl-Art/ICT
Create some montage artwork based around the many ways artiodactyls are adapted
to their ways of life. Cut and paste images from the Internet. Select some images to
enlarge. Use different media to explore camouflage or other adaptations.
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Suggested answers for challenges
Prey survival challenge
Question 2: Students may choose any artiodactyl to sketch, including a deer, hippo, antelope,
buffalo, pig, sheep, goat, gazel e, hog, boar, bison, giraffe, camel, impala or yak.
Responses to how their chosen animal keeps safe wil vary, but may include:
• I keep safe by having eyes on the side of my head so I can see predators coming
• I keep safe by having a camouflaged coat so I can blend in with my surroundings
• I keep safe by having good senses (so I can detect predators), being smal (so I
can escape through dense forest undergrowth), having smal feet (so I can escape
on steep slopes), having horns (for protection if I’m attacked)
Complete a key challenge
Question 2: Fur and antlers = red deer, fur and no antlers = domestic sheep, no fur and curly
tusks = babirusa, no fur and no tusks = hippo.
Question 3: Al four animals can be seen.
Question 4: Fin, black and white = kil er whale, fin, not black and white = bottlenosed dolphin.
The second question may vary, but the most obvious is does it have a (long) tusk.
Is it speckled (or speckled with grey) is also possible. The remaining answer is
white whale.
Mammal interview challenge
Question 3: There are many mammals to choose from, but responses may look
like the fol owing:
Lion
Favourite food – antelope, wildebeest, zebra.
Get food by hunting as a team.
One lioness drives prey towards another waiting in ambush.
Q: Who has the first choice after the prey is kil ed?
A: The males.
Polar bear
Favourite food – seals.
Get food – swim to catch it.
Q: Where do you spend your winter?
A: In deep dens, under the snow and ice.
Food chain challenge
Question 2: Cape hunting dog – wildebeest, antelope, jackal – fruit, reptiles, birds (also eats
invertebrates and smal mammals, so students may also draw lines to insects
and rabbits), maned wolf – fruit, reptiles, birds, rabbits, insects, fish, Fennec fox –
plants, birds, insects
Question 3: Grass → antelope → Cape hunting dog
Plants/leaves → insects → armadil o → maned wolf
Examples of the children’s food chains wil vary.
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Marvellous menus challenge
The wild boar and caribou are in the room with the blue whale. This chal enge provides students
with an opportunity to be creative in how they write the menus. Wild boar eat nuts, worms, eggs,
mice and birds. Caribou/reindeer eat lichens, sedges, fungi, grasses, herbs and wil ow.
Predator power challenge
There are many predators that children may choose. Possibilities include the Cape hunting dog,
maned wolf, polar bear, jaguar, snow leopard, lion, Scottish wild cat and cheetah. Reasons for
choosing the predator wil also vary, but could include features such as teeth, claws, speed and
camouflage.
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Explore and Discover…
Food chains and keys
Join the feeding frenzy
Map
Entrance
(Cromwell Road)
A larger, ful -colour version of this map showing
the whole Museum is available at reception when
you arrive.
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Certificate
This is to certify that
became a
researcher
in the Explore and Discover… Food chains challenge
Teacher’s name
Date
r
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Certificate
This is to certify that
became a
scientist
in the Explore and Discover… Food chains challenge
Teacher’s name
Date
s
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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Certificate
This is to certify that
became a
professor
in the Explore and Discover… Food chains challenge
Teacher’s name
Date
p
Natural History Museum Explore and Discover… Food chains and keys Join the feeding frenzy
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