British Science Week Year 2

As part of British Science Week, Year 2 have been learning all about ecosystems and how living things depend on one another. We began by discussing the different types of ecosystems and why they are important for every organism that lives within them.

To help bring this idea to life, we created a class ecosystem web. Each child was given a picture showing a living thing or an important part of an ecosystem, such as plants, animals, water or sunlight. The children then worked together to figure out how their item was connected to others in the class.

Using string, we created a large spiderweb, showing how everything in an ecosystem is linked together and relies on something else to survive. The web quickly filled with connections as the children discovered just how many relationships exist in nature!

We then explored what might happen if an ecosystem is disturbed. When a natural disaster or human interference damaged part of the ecosystem, the children could see the impact straight away. As certain parts of the web were removed, some living organisms could no longer survive and began to “fall” from the web, helping the class understand how delicate ecosystems can be.

The activity was a fantastic way for the children to visualise how living things depend on each other and why it is so important to look after our environment.