Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores

ObjectiveIN.1.4.3 Observe and explain that animals eat plants or other animals for food.OH.1.LEC Investigate that animals eat plants and/or other animals for food and may also use plants or other animals for shelter and nesting.MI.III.5.E.1 Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web and describe their feeding relationships within the web.NY.E.MST4.LE.6.2 Describe the relationship of the sun as an energy source for living and nonliving cycles.

VocabularyHerbivore Carnivore Omnivore

Materials What You’re Called and What You Eat PowerPoint Picture of tiger and cow (provided)SunglassesWhite construction paper for each studentCrayonsSlips of paper with animal names and the food they like to eat (You may use the worksheet at the end of this lesson and cut out each type of animal and what they eat, into strips. Put a red dot on the carnivore strips, a brown dot on the herbivore strips, and a purple dot on the omnivore strips.)Three large sheets of white paper with restaurant names (Carnivore Café, Green Leaf Diner, Meat and Salad Shop)Optional: At each restaurant station, lay out appropriate foods for the animals (students): Carnivores-sliced lunch meat; Herbivores-fruit, veggie or chips; Omnivore-lunch meat and a fruit/veggie/chips.

Background InformationIn all food chains, there are always more producers than consumers. In this lesson, there will be more herbivores than carnivores and more omnivores than carnivores. The reason is that the carnivore population is dependent on the amount of herbivores which is dependent upon the amount of producers available.

Procedures 1. Tape the three signs in three different stations in the room (or set them on the floor. Students will be working on the floor at these stations).

2. Discuss food chains. Put a sun on the board to represent the main energy source for all food chains. Create samples on the board such as grasscowhuman. Make sure that all start with plants. Animals get their energy either from eating plants or from eating other animals.

3. Show students a picture of a tiger and ask: Does this animal eat plants or other animals? (animals) A tiger is a meat eater. Can we think of any other meat eaters? (lion, wolf, dog, seal, killer whale, eagle) Another name for a meat eater is carnivore.

4. Show students a picture of a cow and ask: Does a cow eat plants or animals? (plants) A cow is a plant-eater. What other animals are plant-eaters? (elephant, horse, deer, kangaroo, squirrel, moose, giraffe) Another name for plant eater is herbivore.

5. Ask: Are people plant eaters or meat eaters? (We eat both plants and animals.) What other animals fit in this group? (Bears eat fish and berries; raccoons eat frogs and fruit; moles eat

earthworms and plant roots.) Another name for animals that eat both plants and animals is omnivore.

6. Put on sunglasses and tell students that you have on the “Making Pretend” glasses. Now all of the children are really animals. Some of them have long fur. Some of them have sharp teeth. Some have long tongues. Some of them even have whiskers. Go around the room and hand out slips of paper with an animal name on it (divide the class into thirds giving each third the name of either a carnivore, herbivore or an omnivore). These are the animals that they have become.

7. Pass out a white piece of construction paper to each student. Point to the Carnivore Café sign. Anyone with a red dot on their animal nametag can go and eat there. (students go over to that station with their papers and crayons) Announce the names of the animals and what they eat. We know that these animals hunt for food so they are called what? (carnivores/meat eaters). They don’t shop at the grocery store. If they did go to restaurants, though, this is the restaurant they would pick. The students will create a picture menu, on their white paper, of the animals at that restaurant and what they would eat at the Carnivore Café.

8. Announce the opening of the Green Leaf Diner. What kinds of animals would eat there? (herbivores/plant eaters) Ask all animals with a brown dot to come to the restaurant with their paper and crayons. Announce the names of the animals and what they eat. Those students will create a picture menu, on their white paper, of all the animals at that restaurant and what they eat at the Green Leaf Diner.

9. Do the same for the Meat and Salad Place (omnivores) (purple dots).

10. Review herbivores, carnivores and omnivores at the restaurants. Hang up the finished menus in the classroom or on the outside bulletin board.

11. To summarize the lesson, you may want to view the What You’re Called and What You Eat PowerPoint with the students.

Category Animal What does it eat?

Omnivore TurtleEarthworms, fruit, mushrooms, leaves, seeds,

grasshoppers

Omnivore Blue JayBuds and twigs, earthworms, fruit, nuts,

grasshoppers, seeds, spiders

Omnivore BearDeer, frogs, fruit, mice, nuts, grasshoppers,

porcupines, rabbits, seeds, turtles

Omnivore FoxBirds, deer, frogs, fruit, mice, porcupines, grasshoppers, rabbits, skunks, snakes,

squirrels

Omnivore Porcupine Bark, buds and twigs, fruit, leaves, nuts

Omnivore Human Beef, fruit, vegetables, bread

Omnivore SkunkBirds, frogs, fruit, mushrooms, mice, moles,

grasshoppers, snakes, spiders, turtles

Herbivore Rabbit Bark, buds and twigs, fruit, grass

Herbivore Horse Grass

Herbivore DeerBuds and twigs, ferns, fruit, mushrooms,

grass, leaves, nuts, seeds

Herbivore Giraffe Leaves, grass, twigs

Herbivore SquirrelBark, birds, buds and twigs, fern plants, fruit,

mushrooms, leaves, nuts, seeds

Herbivore GrasshopperBark, buds and twigs, fern plants, fruit, mushrooms, grass, leaves, nuts, seeds

Herbivore Guinea Pig Grass, leaves, vegetables

Herbivore Sheep Grass

Carnivore OwlBirds, hawks, mice, moles, grasshoppers,

rabbits, skunks, squirrels

Carnivore Frog Earthworms, grasshoppers, spiders

Carnivore Wolf Deer, rabbits

Carnivore SnakeBirds, earthworms, frogs, mice, moles,

grasshoppers, spiders

Carnivore HawkBirds, frogs, mice,

grasshoppers, rabbits, snakes