Year 2 · Science · KS1 · free one-page sheet
Food chains
A free one-page printable on food chains for Year 2 (KS1) science: producer, consumer, predator and prey in one table, a worked example, the wrong-way-arrow mistake, and three quick recall questions. It belongs to our Year 2 Science page on this topic, where every linked resource has been checked.
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The sheet, written out
Key idea
A food chain shows who eats what. A simple food chain usually begins with a green plant, which makes its own food, and each arrow means "is eaten by" or "is food for". Follow the arrows and you follow the food.
A food chain: the arrow means "is eaten by"
Grass
- makes its own food using sunlight
Rabbit
- eats the grass
- gets eaten by the fox
Fox
- hunts and eats the rabbit
Worked example
Put these in a food chain: blackbird, cabbage plant, caterpillar.
Start with the plant, which makes its own food. The caterpillar eats the cabbage plant, and the blackbird eats the caterpillar: cabbage plant → caterpillar → blackbird.
Read each arrow as "is food for": the cabbage plant is food for the caterpillar, and the caterpillar is food for the blackbird.
The common mistake
Drawing the arrow from the fox to the rabbit, "because the fox eats the rabbit".
The arrow shows which way the food goes, so it points from the thing being eaten to the thing eating it: rabbit → fox. Read every arrow as "is eaten by" and it will always point the right way.
Test yourself
- What does a food chain nearly always start with?
- What does the arrow in a food chain mean?
- In grass → caterpillar → blackbird, which animal hunts and eats another animal?
Year 4 words (for later)
- producer: a plant, which makes its own food
- consumer: an animal that eats plants or animals
- predator: hunts other animals · prey: gets eaten
Next topic
Questions parents ask
What is a food chain?
A diagram that shows who eats what. It usually starts with a green plant, which makes its own food, and each arrow means "is eaten by": grass → rabbit → fox.
Which way do the arrows go in a food chain?
From the food to the animal that eats it, because the arrow shows where the food and energy go. Rabbit → fox means the fox eats the rabbit.
When is this taught?
Simple food chains are in the Year 2 science programme of study in England, under Living things and their habitats. Year 4 returns to food chains with producers, predators and prey in more detail.
Is the sheet free?
Yes. One A4 page, PDF or PNG, no sign-up. Print at 100% (actual size).
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