Too Many or Too Few

Lab Brief #4

🎯 Your mission

Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.

⚡ The twist

Living things break the rules of non-living things — find the rule they break.

What you'll learn

If foxes eat too many rabbits, some foxes go hungry and the number of foxes falls. Then the rabbits increase again. The two numbers rise and fall together, always a little out of step.

Key words

predator
An animal that hunts and eats other animals.
prey
An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

Make a hypothesis first

Predict: what will happen to the plant if you change the water?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

playground space
coloured bibs
notebook

⚠️ Safety first

Play on a clear, flat surface and walk rather than sprint if the ground is wet.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "predator" and "prey" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Play a tag game where five foxes chase twenty rabbits over five rounds. Record how many of each are left each round and draw a graph of both numbers.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

If the number of rabbits falls, the number of foxes will probably:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

An animal that is hunted is called the:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🦠 You have more bacterial cells in your body than human cells.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is why plants grow toward windows and why scabs form.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Watch a plant or pet for 5 minutes today and write down what you noticed.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

🏞️Share card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

Too Many or Too Few

Next Smart Experiment

Share this experiment

Too Many or Too Few

Done with science? Try something else

Your Cart (0)