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ScienceStorytelling

Scratch Ecosystem Food Web Game

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Grades 6-82 sessions (60 min each)Source: Creative Dad Company

Code an interactive Scratch game where players keep a food web balanced, turning ecosystem science into playable storytelling.

Choose your version

Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 40 min1 session~$2/groupOne table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Scratch Ecosystem Food Web Game, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Define the central success test in Scratch Ecosystem Food Web Game and make a paper planning sheet for the inputs, actions, and expected result.
  2. Represent the system without electronics by using labeled cards, paper controls, tokens, a ruler, or a student acting as the device; follow the same cause-and-effect rules described in the project.
  3. Run at least three cases, including one difficult or unexpected case, and record input examples, operating rules, predicted outputs, and actual outputs.
  4. Revise one rule, layout, mechanism, or decision after the failed case, repeat it, and explain with the recorded evidence whether the change worked.

Done when: The group has completed Scratch Ecosystem Food Web Game when it can add a win/lose condition and playtest with a classmate, then narrate what happens when one species is removed and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

A computer with internet access (free Scratch account)

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Steps

  1. Choose an ecosystem (pond, forest, or desert) and list its producers, consumers, and decomposers.
  2. Sketch the food web relationships on paper before coding.
  3. In Scratch, create sprites for each organism and script simple rules for population changes.
  4. Add a win/lose condition and playtest with a classmate, then narrate what happens when one species is removed.

Standards it satisfies

  • NGSS · MS-LS1-5

    Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

  • Florida · SC.7.L.15.3

    Explore the scientific theory of evolution by relating how the archaeological record and biogeography provide evidence for evolution.

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