Use a Jenga set as a scientific model of a marine food chain to teach kids about food webs and the delicate balance of the ecosystem in a fun way. This activity introduces kids to contemporary environmental issues regarding the marine ecosystem. You just need a Jenga set, credit card envelopes, self-adhesive paper, some heavyweight paper, scissors, and glue.

We need information about the schools using our model, that’s why we’re asking you, before you download our materials, to kindly fill out this brief form, and tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in our tool. Clic on the image below:

Download & print

• Instructions
• Teacher’s Handout – contains information about the Peruvian marine ecosystem, our Peruvian marine food chain, keystone species, trophic cascades, discussion questions with answers, vocabulary, and the alignment with the NGGS standards, TEKS standards, and the Ocean Literacy Principles.
• Guide Sheet – print one per tower so students can work on groups
• Placemat – one per tower
• Event Cards [Questions, Answers] – print the questions on the self-adhesive paper and stick them on the credit card envelopes. The answers can be printed in heavyweight paper.
• Discussion Cards – print on heavyweight paper and put them inside a different color or label credit card envelope (the Discussion Cards are included in the Answers PDF).
• Tower Stickers – print the images on the self-adhesive paper and put on both sides of the blocks. You can also print them in regular paper and glue them to the blocks.

Video

• Video – Introductory video Anchovies and the Food Chain (3:57). It contains ‘pause’ sections for class discussions.