Show Me the Energy!

Ask children if they have eaten any sunshine today.  You’ll probably get giggles and “no’s”.  Share with children various food items, such as apples, whole-grain bagels and orange juice.  Serve the snack and tell them that the food we eat contains energy that helps our bodies move, grow, and live. This energy originally came from the sun.  Ask them where the various foods items came from.  Create a graph together showing where the food items came from.  If children say, for instance, apples came from the store, keep asking questions that challenge the students to consider the origins of our food, animals, plants and energy from the sun.  Create a simple food chain for each snack item. 

Discuss other foods that children eat and ask them where those food items come from.  Ask children about their favorite animals; what do they eat and where does their food come from? 

Take children outside to sit in the sun and feel the warmth on their skin.  Ask them if they can feel the sun’s energy.  Look around for plants growing, and animals eating plants.  Create a food chain based on what you observed outside.

For more information and for snack and craft ideas use Growing Up WILD’s “Show Me the Energy” activity!

Book List

Bradley, K. B. Energy Makes Things Happen (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2).

Godkin, C. 2006. Wolf Island. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Limited.

Jenkins, S. 2001. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? Houghton Mifflin Company.

Hickman, P. 1997. Hungry Animals: My First Look at a Foodchain. Kids Can Press Ltd.

Johansson, P. 2004. Wide Open Grasslands: A Web of Life. Enslow Publishers, Incorporated.

Kitchen, B. 1994. When Hunger Calls. Candlewick Press.

Lauber, P. 1995. Who Eats What?: Food Chains and Food Webs. HarperCollins Publishers.

Maestro, B. and G. Maestro. 1993. How Do Apples Grow? HarperCollins Publishers.

Mckinney, B.S. 2000. Pass the Energy, Please! Dawn Publications.

Relf, P. 1996. Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book about Food Chains. Scholastic, Inc.

Rosenfeld, D. and R. Lyampe. 2002. Where Does Food Come From? Hachai Publishing.

Sayre, A.P. and K. Endle. 2008. Trout Are Made of Trees. Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.