Food Chain Game

The transfer of food from one organism to another is called a food chain. This transfer takes place when one organism eats another, beginning with a plant or producer. While participating in the Food Chain Game, students modify the rules after each round based on their personal experience as predator/prey, naturally resulting in appropriate population sizes for each level.

The food chain in this game consists of four links: plants→grasshoppers →frogs → hawks. Popcorn represents the plant population, and the children play the parts of the grasshoppers (eat only plants), frogs (eat only grasshoppers), and hawks (eat only frogs). With each round, players are able to change the number of each population and create rules that mimic the real world.

Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS) is an outdoor program that offers young people fun and challenging opportunities to investigate ecological relationships in their local environment. OBIS was developed in the 1970s at the Lawrence Hall of Science to help adults (teachers, parents, community leaders) take young people outdoors to experience ecological principles in their local area. We have made several of the original 97 OBIS activities available digitally. These activities, which increase environmental awareness, can be used individually or in combination. These simple experiences then act as a gateway for children and adults to explore and understand their local environment.