Food Chains Card Game

Food Chains Card Game - The Cards


	ARCTIC FOX ~ Jump & Break Habitat: Arctic (tundra) Size: 50-70cm body; 28-40cm tail; 2.5-8kg Adaptation: locates its prey under the snow by hearing then leaps so that it can break through the snow to catch it Diet: lemming, vole, birds & leftovers from seals killed by polar bears Predator(s): man hunting them for their fur


	SANDGROUSE ~ Water Carrier Habitat: deserts Size: 23-41cm long; 235-300gm Adaptation: flies to drink at water-hole every 2-3 days; the male sandgrouse soaks its soft breast feathers with water & carries it back to its young Diet: seeds of desert plants Predator(s): fox, snake & mongoose


	WARTHOG ~ Quick Charge Habitat: grasslands Size: ≈ 76cm high & 50-150kg Adaptation: use the burrows of other animals for shelter Diet: plants, fruit, roots, earthworms, birds' eggs, & even small mammals Predator(s): man, lion, leopard & hyena


	JAGUAR ~ The Cruncher Habitat: rainforests Size: 1.6-1.8m body; 45-75cm tail; 67-76cm high; 56-151kg Adaptation: Strong jaws and canines for piercing & crunching the skull of their prey Diet: fish, frogs, caiman, mice, tapirs, deer, capybaras & other rodents Predator(s): man hunting them for their skin Extra: worship as god by some cultures

This is my attempt to create a food chains card game which is basically who eats who? (predator-prey) and where? (habitat). The earth has many different natural regions called habitats. For the purpose of this game, these habitats are classified into arctic, deserts, grasslands, mountains and rainforests.

Each card contains information about the animal's habitat, size, adaptation, diet and predator(s). On the left is a sample animal card which has the name of the animal followed by a tilde (~) then the "power" or "characteristic" of that animal ... which may be "appealing" to children. This power or characteristic is sometimes explained under "Adaptation".

This game has been played only in my mind and not in reality so there may be a fair bit of kinks. Appreciate your comments via feedback form on how to improve the game ... the cards and the rules.

If you choose not to play the card game, you probably will find other uses for the cards in your classroom. Have fun! Read the instructions on how to print the cards with background images.

The animal cards are as follows:

ARCTIC	Animals: polar bear, walrus, arctic fox, grizzly bear, wolverine, red fox Animals2: musk ox, caribou, dall sheep, arctic hare, arctic ground squirrel, lemming Birds: gryfalcon, snowy owl, arctic tern, puffin, godwit, ptarmigan Insects: mosquito, arctic bumblebee, jutta arctic, arctic white Seals: ringed seal, bearded seal, harp seal, hooded seal, spotted seal, ribbon seal Whales & Shark: orca, narwhal, baleen, beluga, greenland shark Under the Arctic Ice: plankton, krill, big fish, small fish, squid Misc: sunlight, shrubs, lichens, arctic habitat card, arctic hunter card, hunter card
DESERTS	Animals: serval, coyote, kit fox, desert tortoise, tarantula, desert scorpion Animals2: jackrabbit, pupfish, spadefoot toad, bee, camel spider, wolf spider Birds: cactus wren, gila woodpecker, roadrunner, elf owl, burrowing owl, sandgrouse Insects: (Work-in-progress) desert cricket, weevil, darkling beetle, antlion, butterfly, jewel wasp Herbivores: camel, pronghorn, desert bighorn sheep, wild burro, javelina Reptiles: gila monster, texas horned lizard, thorny devil, rattlesnake, sidewinder, namib lizard Rodents: ground squirrel, kangaroo rat, long-eared jerboa, woodrat Misc: sunlight, desert plants (2x), deserts habitat card, deserts hunter card, hunter card
GRASSLANDS	Carnivores: lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, african hunting dog, crocodile Herbivores: elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, antelope, zebra Herbivores2: wildebeest, buffalo Omnivores: jackal, warthog, baboon, ostrich Misc: sunlight, grass (2x), grasslands habitat card, grasslands hunter card, hunter card
RAINFORESTS Make a physical food web Source: Toronto Zoo	Apes: gorilla, orangutan, gibbon, chimpanzee Monkeys: woolly monkey, howler monkey, spider monkey, squirrel monkey, saki monkey(2) Monkeys2: golden lion tamarin, proboscis monkey, bald red-faced uakari, cotton-topped tamarin Big Cats: jaguar, panther, tiger, ocelot Birds: harpy eagle, woodpecker, toucan, jabiru stork, hummingbird, macaw Birds2: blue bird of paradise, raggiana bird of paradise, hoatzin, jacamar, tityra Insects: glasswing butterfly, butterfly, beetle, bee, ant (2) Mammals: sloth, platypus, echidna, tapir, armadillo, tamandua Mammals2: possum, coati, kinkajou, tarsier, leaf-nosed bat, binturong Rodents: cabybara, coypu, agouti, flying squirrel Amphibians: caecilian, tiger salamader, tree frog, poison-arrow frog, purple frog, tomato frog Reptiles: alligator, anaconda, iguana, flying lizard, frilled lizard, komodo dragon In the Rivers: electric eel, orange spot stingray, manatee, piranha, river dolphin, Misc: sunlight, plants (2x), rainforests habitat card, rainforests hunter card, hunter card
MOUNTAINS	Bears, Ape & Monkey: giant panda, black bear, spectacled bear, mountain gorilla, snow monkey Birds: golden eagle, horned owl, andean condor, bearded helmetcrest, tinamou, snowfinch Cats, Fox & Wolf: cougar (puma), snow leopard, lynx, culpeo, gray wolf Herbivores: elk, white-tailed deer, alpine ibex, tahr, rocky mountain goat, bighorn sheep Herbivores2: guanaco, vicuna, markhor, yak Rodents: alpine chipmunk, chinchilla, viscacha, marmot, pika Misc: sunlight, plants (2x), mountains habitat card, mountains hunter card, hunter card
SWAMPS	Coming Soon!