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Who Eats Who?

Activity

Exploring Food Chains

Think about common plants and animals in your area. In Austin, you might find oak trees, grasses, squirrels, birds, insects, and even foxes. Create a food chain by figuring out what each animal eats. For example, squirrels eat acorns from oak trees, and hawks might hunt squirrels. Now, explore campus to find different plants and animals. Touch the trees or listen for birds and squirrels. If you cannot find animals, imagine where they might be in the food chain. If you are lucky, you might catch the food chain in action—like a bird catching an insect!

brown and orange breasted robin with a large orange worm in the grass

picture of the food chain for a desert ecosystem

Science Seed

Food chains demonstrate how organisms get what they need for food and how energy and nutrients get transferred from one organism to another. Food chains begin with plant life and often end with larger animal life. An example of a simple food chain starts with grass. Grass (a producer) gets its nutrients from the sun, soil and water —> Grasshoppers (primary consumers) then eat the plants —> Mice (secondary consumers) eat the grasshoppers —> Then owls (tertiary consumers) eat the mice! Then fungi (decomposers) consume dead plants and animals, as well as waste materials. Then they recycle nutrients back into the soil to fuel plants, restarting the cycle. In Austin, students might encounter squirrels, doves, sparrows, grackles, insects, small rodents, and urban plants like oak trees and grasses.

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earn Badges

Badges can be earned through hands-on experiences within each of the 16 branches of science, or “Science Slices.” You can earn a badge in each branch of science by doing four activities in these categories. We also encourage participants to keep a Nature Journal to record their memories, and to express themselves creatively through writing or drawing after each activity. We recommend that each child (and parent if they’d like) write or draw in a journal after each activity, with expectations of your children that match their age (the goal is self-expression, not perfection).

Explore Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The Ecologist School Pocket Guide: TSBVI edition is a collaboration between Families in Nature and the Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired as an effort to help our community learn more about the TSBVI campus, while getting outside into nature together! This booklet has 80 lessons across 16 different branches of science to help you play, learn, and volunteer on campus!

join Families in Nature

It is our vision to inspire all families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. Becoming a member of Families in Nature will give your family the opportunity to have adventures in nature, experience field science, develop as youth conservation leaders, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Memberships are free for everyone.

Who are we?

Families in Nature works to create opportunities for nature connection with the purpose of sparking a deep love and desire to protect, conserve and restore the environment. Our mission is to connect children and their families to nature and to each other through time spent learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists.