Look A healthy meadow
Watch a meadow that works
This is healthy. Press Step 1 month two times. Each month, read why the numbers change — or stay the same.
About 12 minutes
Meadow Makers
Hi, I’m Ranger June! Plants and animals need each other. Today you will build a meadow, test what happens when the weather changes, and help a habitat in trouble.
You will…
- find and ;
- see how sunlight, water and plants help animals stay alive;
- follow a ;
- predict what happens when one thing changes.
How it works
- Press Step 1 month to move time forward. Read What happened this month? to find out why.
- Stuck? Press Hint. You can try again as many times as you like.
- Underlined words show a short meaning when you press them.
- Your stars and journal are saved only on this device.
This is a . It is much simpler than a real meadow, and all the numbers are made up.
Activity 1
Build a habitat
Try Sort them
Producer, herbivore or predator?
A eats plants. A eats other animals.
Try Your own meadow
Build a meadow that stays healthy
Choose living things for your meadow. You need at least one producer, one herbivore and one predator. Then test it for 12 months!
Your meadow’s links
Hint: Every animal needs its food in the meadow. Start with plants, then add animals that eat them, then a predator that eats one of those animals.
Month-by-month graph and table of the test
Try Food chain
Make a food chain
Make a food chain that ends with a fox. Each arrow means “is eaten by”, and shows energy moving to the eater.
Sunlight
Foxes
Activity 2
Predict and test
Scientists predict first, then test. Pick an experiment. Change the water or sunlight, make your prediction, then step through 4 months to see what the model does.
Choose an experiment
Test
Hint: Plants need sunlight and water to make food. Animals need plants (or other animals) to eat. What happens to the eaters when their food changes?
How to test
- Choose a change.
- Choose your predictions.
- Press Save my prediction.
- Press Step 1 month four times (or Play).
- Compare your prediction with what happened.
Activity 3
Fix a habitat
Part A Detective
The Wilting Meadow
This meadow is in trouble. The clover is wilting, and there are rabbits everywhere — but no foxes. Look closely, work out what is wrong, then try to fix it.
Try a fix
Change the water or sunlight, or add or remove living things. Then test your fix. You can use Reset to start again.
Hint: There may be more than one problem. Think about water for the plants, and about what keeps rabbit numbers from getting too high.
Month-by-month graph and table of the test
Part B A new place
Willow Pond
Here is a place you haven’t seen yet! Willow trees have grown over this pond, so only a little sunlight reaches the water. Use what you learned to help it.
Who eats what in Willow Pond?
Try a fix
Hint: In the story, people could trim the willow branches. What would that change for the algae and pondweed?
Month-by-month graph and table of the test
Well done, Meadow Maker!
What you did
Your stars
Big ideas
- Producers (like grass and algae) make food using sunlight and water.
- Consumers get energy by eating. Herbivores eat plants; predators eat animals.
- In a food chain, arrows show energy moving from the food to the eater.
- When sunlight or water changes, plants change first — then the animals that eat them, then their predators.
My experiments
Our model vs. a real meadow
A real meadow has hundreds of kinds of living things — worms, fungi, birds, bees and tiny decomposers that our model leaves out. Weather changes every day. Real animals move, hide and eat many foods. Our numbers are made up to help us think.
Next practice
Go outside or look out of a window. Find one producer and one consumer. Draw a food chain with arrows pointing from the food to the eater. What would happen to it in a dry summer?
Extra · free play
Explore lab
Change anything you like. Try to make a habitat struggle, then bring it back.