Four Winds Nature Institute
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Structure and Function – PREDATORS AND PREY – Teaching Outline
FOCUS: Both predators and prey need to eat, but they face different challenges in getting their
food. Predators must find their prey, chase and catch it, subdue it, if it fights back, and eat it.
Prey animals must forage for food cautiously, always on the lookout for predators. The physical
and behavioral characteristics of predators and prey reflect their needs and ways of life.
Opening: What does it mean to be a predator and prey animal?
Puppet Show – “Little Red Riding Rabbit and Br’er Fox”: Compare the behavioral and
physical adaptations of rabbits and foxes.
Predator-Prey Face-offs: Meet some predator and prey animals, learn about their adaptations
for hunting or avoiding capture, and consider the outcome of confrontations between different
animals.
Look Out! Scenarios: Act out some behavioral adaptations that help predators and prey
survive.
Hot on the Trail: Role play being prey animals seeking food and being predatory animals
following tracks of their prey.
Predator-Prey Tag: Experience the different food-getting challenges faced by prey animals and
their predators.
Upper Grades Challenge – Ups and Downs: Model how the numbers of predator change in
relation to available prey.
Design a Perfect Predator: Journal Activity: Design an animal predator with adaptations for
hunting a particular type of prey.
SUGGESTED OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
Predator-Prey Face-offs, Look-out! Scenarios, Hot on the Trail, Predator-Prey Tag.
Unit Concepts/Ideas:
A. Animals that hunt other animals for food have adaptations that help them to find and
catch their prey. Animals that are hunted have special adaptations that help them to
become aware of predators and to escape from, defend against, or discourage them.
Some adaptations are common to both predators and prey.
B. Animals display a variety of different hunting and escaping strategies.
C. In a healthy ecosystem, there is a balance between predators (hunters) and prey (hunted)
animals as long as there are adequate habitat resources (food, water, & shelter) to provide
for each group’s successful reproduction.
Unit Vocabulary: Adaptation, Ecosystem, Habitat, Predator, Prey, Herbivore, Carnivore,
Omnivore, Nocturnal, Diurnal, Crepuscular, Interdependence
Science Grade Expectations:
Grades PK-K Living things need food, water, and air to survive. Rabbits and Foxes are living
animals.
Grades 1-2 All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food; other animals eat
animals that eat plants. Animals are made up of body parts that enable them to survive in the
particular places they live.
Grades 3-4 Animals have physical and behavioral characteristics that help them to get what they
need and to defend themselves in their environment. Organisms can only survive in habitats in
which their needs are met. Energy derived from food is needed for all animals to stay alive and
grow. Living things can be sorted into groups in many ways using various characteristics.
Grades 5-6 Energy within an ecosystem originates from the sun; plants use energy from the sun
to make energy rich food, animals eat food that plants make. The number of animals that an
ecosystem can support depends on the kinds of organisms present and the availability food,
water and other resources. When the environment changes, some animals with advantageous
traits are able to survive. Living things can be sorted into groups in many ways using various
characteristics.
Science Skills:
A. Active listening to understand the shifting balance and interdependence between
predators and their prey
B. Comparing and contrasting adaptations that are specific to hunted animals and
hunting animals and discussing adaptations the groups have in common.
C. Experiencing the role of predator and prey through a game of hiding and searching.
D. Creating a model using paper, crayons, pencils and tape to show adaptations a
predator would need to capture prey.
Vermont Standards: Inquiry 7.1, The Living World 7.13, Natural Resources and Agriculture
7.16, Listening 1.13, Questioning 2.1, Sustainability 3.9, Understanding Place 4.6
New Hampshire Standards: Science Process Skills SPS1, SPS3, SPS4, Life Science LS1, LS2,
LS3
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