Food provides energy for growth, development and maintenance
Humans, and other living things need a balanced diet to stay healthy
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS
What would happen to you if you did not eat?
How can you tell that the food you eat is giving you energy?
What different foods do you think make a healthy diet?
LIVING THINGS NEED FOOD
Plants and animals need certain things to stay alive and grow.
One of the most important is food.
Food is any substance that an animal or a plant can use to maintain its life and growth.
FOOD IS NEEDED FOR ENERGY AND GROWTH
Food provides living things with the essential nutrients they need to grow and move.
Living things also need water which is not normally classified as a ’food’, although water is present in all foods.
PLANTS AND ANIMALS OBAIN THEIR FOOD FROM CHEMICALS
Green plants make their food by using the water and mineral salts they absorb through their roots, and carbon dioxide through their leaves.
They use these chemicals as the building blocks to make their food which is used for energy, growth and maintenance.
Green plants are important because they provide basic food source for the animal kingdom, both for the animals that directly eat plants and, in turn, through them to the animals that eat these plant-eating animals.
