Hands-On Food Web Science for Kids

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Make Science for Kids More Fun!

My Sawyer is all about animals right now.  So we’ve been embracing that passion and are following his lead for homeschool science.  We read The Magic School Bus Chapter Book, Food Chain Frenzy for bedtime over the last few weeks.  They loved the book, but science for kids should be more hands-on, don’t ya think?  So I put together a sort of Animal Geoboard for the kids to make their own food chains and food webs.  Check it out…

DIY Food Web Geoboard Science for Kids

This activity was super-easy to set up and entertained the kids for nearly an hour.

The Hands-On Science for Kids Setup:

• a small cork board
• rubber bands
• push pins
• animal picture cards

I just printed some free animal picture cards from The Swedish Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers (all you need to do to download them is sign up for the free membership) and cut them out.  Then presented the kids with the animal cards, some rubber bands, push pins, and a cork board.  My clever Sawyer knew right away that it was perfect for making a food web!

First, they sorted through the animal cards.  In retrospect, I would have given them far less.  The amount of them was a little overwhelming.  But sorting them was a great activity for the kids, too.

Then they got to work making their food web by using the pushpins to stick the animal cards onto the board and connecting them with the rubber bands.  Sawyer quickly realized that there weren’t any plants in the cards.  And one NEEDS plants in a food web!  So he grabbed his colored pencils and made some plant cards.  The kids did get a little frustrated at times when their web got so big that the rubber bands pulled the push pins out.  So using string would be a good option, too.  But I liked the fine motor practice that they got with the rubber bands.

They loved this Food Web Science for Kids Activity!  And we’ll be saving the animal cards for more learning, too.

What fun science for kids have you been having lately?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

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