Last time we made single food chains. But in real life, animals eat lots of different foods! Today we join chains together into a food web.

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Step 1: Most animals eat more than one food, and are eaten by more than one animal.

When we join lots of food chains together, we get a food web — a much more accurate picture of nature.

Step 2: Meet the decomposers — nature's clean-up crew! 🍄🪱

Fungi, worms and bacteria break down dead plants and animals and return their nutrients to the soil.

Producers then use those nutrients to grow — so nothing is wasted.

Step 3: Energy and nutrients keep going around, like a loop.

Step 4: Some animals belong here (native) and some were brought here by people (introduced).

Introduced animals can break a food web by eating or crowding out native animals.

Your turn! 🕸️

1. Play the string food-web game — hold the string and feel the web connect.
2. Sort the native and introduced species cards.
3. Complete the Food Webs and Decomposers worksheet.

Remember: decomposers return nutrients to the soil, and a web is stronger than a single chain.