Background

Objectives

Students will identify producers in the garden.
Students will give examples of the three types of consumers.
Students will find consumers and producers in the garden.

Materials

Samples from the garden
Pictures of consumers and producers

Season

Fall, Spring

Group Size

Whole class

California State
Content Standards

L.S. 2.b

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All plants are producers. Producers can be characterized by three main things: producers use photosynthesis to make their own food; producers cannot physically move; and producers can provide food and shelter for other animals. You can relate the word producer to the “produce” section of the grocery store- it is filled with fruits and vegetables.

Consumers are anything that eats. This includes everything from people to slugs. Consumers are heterotrophs, which means they need to ingest food to get energy and nutrients. This does include fungi and bacteria. Students often bring up the Venus Fly Trap, which is different, because they decompose insects using their enzymes to receive nutrients. Venus Fly Traps grow in extremely nutrient poor soil. They catch insects as an adaptation to receive nutrients. This could be a good way to discuss adaptations.

There are three main types of consumers: herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. Herbivores only eat plant matter. Omnivores eat both plants and animals. Carnivores eat only meat.

Vocabulary

Producer: All plants. Three things can define producers: Producers make their own food; Producers cannot move; Producers provide food and shelter for animals.
Consumer: Anything that eats to get energy and nutrients.

Attention Grabber

If possible take the students on a field trip to the produce section of a grocery store. Whole Foods has been known to give good tours of their store and offer generous samples. If you do take a field trip to the produce section of the store, you can introduce the word, producer, to the students and have them guess what the meaning of the word is afterwards.

If you cannot go on a field trip to a produce section, show students different pictures of producers (include a variety of pictures such as trees, cacti, flowers, vegetables) and have a few different samples from the garden. Ask students to talk to their neighbor and try and figure out what all of these things have in common.

Garden Activity

Part 1

Introduce the word “producer” to the students and write down the 3 things that define the word.
- Producers make their own food through photosynthesis.
- They cannot move around.
- Producers can provide food and shelter for animals.

Ask the students find two different examples of producers with a partner.

Have students work in the garden to help the producers grow. Good jobs for the students can include: water plants, transplant seedlings, planting some seeds, or anything having to do with a “producer”

Part 2

Show the students a picture of a lion. What do lions eat? They eat meat and the scientific word for animals that only eat meat is carnivore. (Tape the picture of the lion and write the word “carnivore” below it.) Ask the students if they think of other carnivores (write their answers below the word).

Show the students a picture of a horse. What do horses eat? They eat only plants and the scientific word for plant eaters is herbivore. (Tape the picture of the horse and write the word “herbivore” below it.) Ask the students if they can think of other herbivores (write their answers below the word).

Show the students a picture of a person. What do people eat? They eat plants and animals. Animals that eat both plants and animals are called omnivores. Ask the students if they can think of other omnivores (write their answers below the word).

Ask the students if they can talk to their neighbor and come up with something that all three types of animals have in common. They all need to eat! Anything that eats is called a consumer (write the word above the three types of consumers).

Ask students to go and find two consumers in the garden.

Allow the consumers (the students) to eat a producer in the garden.

Wrap Up

Give the students an oral quiz to see if they can give you an example of a consumer or a producer they’ve found in the garden. Have students give examples of consumer and producer connections. For example, zebras eat grass; cows eat grass; chickens eat seeds etc.

What's Next?

Make a picture sort for the students to show if they remember the three types of consumers. Have pictures of the three types of consumers. Give hints about what each animal eats to help students demonstrate their ability.

Download Materials

Lesson Materials

Consumers

Producers

Herbivore

Omnivore

Carnivore