Background

All plants are producers, or autotrophs, which means they create their energy (or food) through a process called photosynthesis. In this lesson, we characterize producers by 3 main traits: producers make their own food; producers cannot physically move; and producers provide food and shelter for animals. You can relate the word producer to the “produce” section of the grocery store- it is filled with fruits and vegetables.

Consumers, or heterotrophs, are organisms that need to ingest organic substances to receive energy and nutrients. Scientifically, this does include fungi and bacteria, although for the purposes of this lesson, we will focus on the 3 main types of consumers: herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. Herbivores only eat plant matter. Omnivores eat both plants and animals. Carnivores eat only meat. Each of the three types of consumers have adaptations that help them digest their food. Herbivores commonly have a  complex digestive system that helps them break down plants and absorb nutrients. Omnivores have both sharp teeth in the front for tearing meat and flat teeth in the back (molars) to help grind plant matter. Carnivores have sharp teeth and bodies that help them hunt and eat their prey.

Frequently Asked Questions
Students often bring up the Venus Fly Trap when discussing the difference between consumers and producers. They are producers with an adaptation that helps them decompose insects to receive nutrients. Venus Fly Traps grow in extremely nutrient poor soil. They catch insects as an adaptation to obtain the necessary nutrients, but they do not receive energy from the insect. Some plants, such as the snow plant, are parasitic and do not produce their own energy. These types of plants area called saprophytes and do not contain any chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a necessary ingredient to capture the energy in sunlight for photosynthesis. This could be a good way to introduce adaptations.
 

Vocabulary

(Introduce the vocabulary throughout the lesson. Review before each part).
Producer: All plants are producers. Producers can be defined by three characteristics: Producers make their own food; Producers cannot move; Producers provide food and shelter for animals.
Consumer: Anything that eats to get energy and nutrients from other organic substances.
Herbivore: An animals that only eats plant matter.
Carnivore: An animal that only eats meat.
Omnivore: An animals that eats both plants and animals.
Food Web: An illustration showing the complex food relationships in a given ecosystem.?Food Chain: A linear food display of plants and animals in any given ecosystem.
 

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) or have a few different samples from the garden. Ask students how they could categorize the pictures in one group.
 

Garden Activity

Part 1: Producers

•    Have students work with their neighbor and come up with 3 things that can characterize all plants. Work together as a class to write down the 3 characteristics that define the word:
1.    Producers make their own food through photosynthesis.
2.    They cannot move around.
3.    Producers can provide food and shelter for animals.
•    Ask the students to find two different examples of producers in the garden. Have them work with a partner or in groups of 3. Write the list of producers on the board.
•    Have students work in a small group and come up with as many producers as possible in 30 seconds. Create a master list with all of the producers they came up with.
•    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 eating a producer.
 

Part 2: Consumers

•    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. Have students repeat the word with you). 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. Have students repeat the word with you). 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. (Write the word “omnivore below the picture. Have students repeat the word with you).  Ask the students if they can think of other omnivores (write their answers below the word).
•    Ask the students if they can 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 and have students repeat the word).
•    Ask students to think of two consumers they’d find in the garden. Have the students share what they found and classify what type of consumer it is. Ask students to point to a consumer they see (themselves).
•    Ask the students to be a consumer and eat a producer in the garden.
 

Part 3: Food Chains & Food Webs

•    Have students give examples of consumer and producer connections. For example, zebras eat grass; cows eat grass; chickens eat seeds…
•    Have students draw a food chain with the consumers and producers they would find in the garden or in their neighborhoods. Make sure the students create the food chain beginning from its primary source- plants!
•    Use a piece of yarn to help demonstrate a food web to the students. They can be something in the garden habitat. Have the first student state what they are and write that down on piece of tape so everyone can remember. They hold onto the string and pass the ball of yarn to the next person. The next person states what they are, you can write it down for them, and then passes the ball of yarn. Continue this until everyone is part of the food web. Tell the students they have created a food web. Discuss their observations. For example, they are all connected or there could be more than one thing an animal would eat in an ecosystem…

 

Wrap Up & Assessment

•    Review the 3 characteristics of producers with students. Review the 3 types of consumers and what a consumer means.
•    Have students use the consumer cards included in the appendix and work with a partner or small groups to classify the different types of consumers.
•    Ask students to fill out food web worksheet included in the appendix.

 

What’s Next

•    Continue their studies in their local ecosystems and have students create their own food webs within these local ecosystems.
 

Download Materials

Student Worksheet

Food Web or Food Chain