Living Things

Beetle

There are many living things in the world (from a huge elephant to the grass that grows on your school's playing field!)

If something is alive it does certain things, these are called life processes. The main ones are:-

1) They Grow

Growing means to increase in size. Seedlings grow to be mature (fully grown) plants and little animals grow up to be adult animals.

2) They Move

Plants do not move their position but can move parts of themselves, e.g. they can turn their leaves to face the sunlight.

Animals can move in many different ways such as walking, running, crawling, flying or swimming.

3) They Reproduce (have little ones)

Animals and plants can create new animals and plants that are similar to themselves.

Animals have baby animals. Most plants make seeds which will grow into little plants.

4) They Need Nourishment (food and water)

Every living thing needs nourishment, it gives them energy (to grow and to move).

A green plant can use its leaves to turn sunlight, water and a gas from the air into food. It gets its water from the soil using its roots.

Animals cannot make their own food, they eat plants or other animals instead.

5) They are Sensitive

Living things notice how their surroundings change and react to it.

If a bird for example hears an unusual sound it will fly away. Animals have one or more senses that help them react to changes; these are sight, smell, touch, taste and smell.

A plant can also react to changes, for example if it gets too cold it will not grow at all!

Attachments

• Living Things.pdf (pdf, 34k)
• Living Things Teacher Notes.pdf (pdf, 38k)
• Visit Adobe.com to install the free Adobe© Reader software or get help with pdf accessibility.

• Classifying Living Things