Nature’s Pantry

K–12 Resource: Watch a Video

Learn how producers and consumers are connected in the food chain

Grade Level K–2, 3–5
Subject Science, Visual Arts
Resource Type Watch a Video

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- English

[soft music and light rain]
Jordan: Enjoying the herb garden in the rain.
Jessie: Oh, definitely. It's so beautiful. All the colors are really popping. And I love the smells. All these edible plants. There's oregano and I see rosemary and thyme and, and basil.
Jordan: Yeah. Actually, all the plants here can be used for cooking. People sometimes call this area the kitchen garden. It's like nature's pantry or a fresh food storage.
Jessie: Oh, I really like that. I, I love the idea that a kitchen wouldn't just be a place that's inside, but it can also be this outdoor space where you can grow food.
Jordan: Right. And I love how the Getty Gardeners can make something useful, beautiful too.
Jessie: Food is definitely beautiful. Some of my favorite art pieces at the Getty Center have food in them.
Jordan: Ooh. I'd love to see your favorite art pieces.
Jessie: Really?
Jordan: Yeah.
Jessie: You wanna go now?
Jordan: Okay.
Jessie: Okay.
[finger snap sound]
Cool trick, huh?
Jordan: Nice.
[upbeat music]
Jessie: Okay. Fruit makes great art like this big bunching pot of grapes.
Jordan: Wow! They look fresh enough to pluck right outta the painting.
Jessie: I also love how shiny the apples look.
Jordan: Oh, they're probably so crisp. Mm.
Jessie: This platter is really neat because the artists use casts of real life creatures to make these animals.
Jordan: Ooh. Seafood. Though, I'm not sure about those frogs. I do like frog legs though.
Jessie: Ooh, adventurous. Yeah, I don't know about the snakes.
But honestly this is my favorite.
[confused sound]
Jordan: This does not look like food.
Jessie: Oh, well it's um, it's like a kitchen garden, but it's nature's pantry. So just not people food.
Jordan: Mm.
Jessie: You see the hare? It's the giant bunny in the middle. It's eating a piece of this plant called Lady's Mantle.
Jordan: Oh! There's so many details. It makes me wanna jump inside the painting.
Jessie: Oh, let's do it.
Jordan: What?
Jessie: Yeah.
[animal sounds and upbeat music]
Jordan: Wow. You're full of tricks today. There's so much wildlife here.
Jessie: Right! Everybody just sees the bunny, but this is a whole habitat full of producers and consumers.
Jordan: Is there a spot on the food chain for all of them?
Jessie: Well, let's ask. My lady, are you finding enough food?
Lady’s Mantle: Darling? I'm a producer. I don't find food. I produce my own by capturing the energy of the sun and using it to grow my roots, stems and leaves.
[crunching sound]
Hare: And the leaves are so good.
Jessie: Oh, hi Ms. Hare. Uh, so you're eating the lady’s leaves?
Hare: Sure am. I'm a consumer. I consume plants like leaves, vegetables, and berries.
Jordan: So, no hamburgers?
Hare: Not for me! If you want to talk to a carnivore, an animal who eats other animals, you'll have to find the spider.
Jordan: Spider? Are there spiders in this painting?
Jessie: There are! Uh, you wanna find one?
Jordan: Uh, Let's see, let's see. Where is it?
Oh, hi.
Jessie: Oh, hi, Ms. Spider.
Spider: Hello. Hello. What are y'all doing here today?
Jessie: Oh, we're just interviewing wildlife about the food chain. Oh. Uh, how do you get your food?
Spider: I catch my dinner in this web I'm weaving.
Jessie: Oh, artistic and functional. Just like the herb garden. Nothing beats a good meal of flies and fleas for this carnivore. Would you like a bite?
Jordan: No thank you, ma'am. I'm not much of a fly eater myself.
Spider: Perhaps you should learn from the snail, he knows not to turn down a good meal.
Jessie: Oh, hi friend. So what do you eat?
Snail: Oh, I can eat just about anything. Plants, fungus, even food that's starting to rot.
Jordan: And that doesn't make your stomach hurt.
Snail: Not mine. I'm made to help clean up the forest by eating food that would make other animals sick.
Jessie: Oh, like a scavenger. You're a scavenger. Ah, okay. So scavengers, like decomposers are the recyclers of the food chain.
Snail: Yes! Decomposers, like my friends the earthworms, help turn rot into soil for producers. Unfortunately, they're underground at the moment, or I would make introductions.
Jordan: Soil?
[ding sound]
Wait, don't you need soil to grow?
Lady’s Mantle: It's true. We are all part of a cycle here. Stay a bit longer and see where you fit in.
Jessie: Oh, I wish we could, but I actually hear visitors now. Um, thank you so much. We better hop out.
Jessie and Jordan: Whoa.
Jordan: Wow. All that talk about food is making me hungry.
Jessie: Yeah. Honestly, I still smell the basil from the herb garden earlier.
Jordan: You know what goes good with basil?
Jessie: I do.
Jordan: You do?
Jessie: Let's do it.
Jordan: Yeah.
[opera music]

Assignment

Watch Nature’s Pantry!

List or sketch the plants and animals that Jessie and Jordan meet in the video.

Once you finish, can you draw a food chain model with all of the plants and animals they met?

Glossary

Carnivore

An animal that eats other animals. The spider is a carnivore because it eats other creatures.

Decomposers

Like nature’s recycling team! They’re tiny living things, like bacteria and fungi, that break down dead plants and animals into tiny pieces. This helps turn them into nutrients that plants can use to grow, and it keeps the Earth’s environment clean and healthy!

Fungus

Fungus is a type of living thing that’s neither a plant nor an animal. Mushrooms are a common type of fungus! They can be different shapes and colors and sometimes grow in damp or dark places.

Herbivore

An animal that eats plants. The hare is an herbivore because it eats leaves, veggies, and berries.

Microscopic

Microscopic means something is so tiny you can’t see it with just your eyes. You need a special tool called a microscope to see things that are microscopic, like tiny bugs or cells.

Pantry

A pantry is a special cupboard or cabinet in your kitchen where you store food like snacks, cereal, pasta, and canned goods. It’s like your own little food storage room at home!

Producer

In nature, a plant or organism that makes its own food. It uses sunlight to create energy through a process called photosynthesis. Plants, like lady’s mantle, are examples of producers because they make their own food by capturing sunlight and growing leaves.

Scavenger

An animal that eats dead plants or animals. The snail is a scavenger because it helps clean up the forest by munching on plants, fungus, and rotting food.

K-LS1-1: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat, some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

5-PS3-1: Use models to describe that energy in animals' food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

Credits and Licensing

This page is licensed under the Creative Commons NonCommercial 4.0 International license. You are free to make use of these pages under the terms of this license. Note that individual elements or portions of a page (for example, a copyrighted image) may be excluded from the Creative Commons license. Excluded items are clearly identified.

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