Living Things: What They Need and How We Sort Them

A puppy, a sunflower, and you: all of you are alive! What do living things need to stay alive? And how can we sort animals into groups? Let’s look closely.

This lesson takes about 15 minutes. You can take a break after each part.

Before you start

Living Things: What They Need and How We Sort Them

Learning objectives

  • I can say what animals need: food, water, and air.
  • I can say what plants need: water and light.
  • I can find what all living things need.
  • I can sort animals by what covers their body: fur, feathers, or scales.

What animals need

Food, water, and air

Animals are living things. To live and grow, every animal needs food, water, and air to breathe.

Different animals, different foods

Animals do not all eat the same food. Some eat plants. Some eat other animals. Some eat both.

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What plants need

Plants are alive too

A plant does not walk or run, but it is alive: it grows. Plants do not eat food like animals do.

Water and light

To live and grow, a plant needs water and light. Without water, its leaves droop and dry out. Without light, it gets weak and pale.

Left: a sunflower grows in the soil under the shining sun, its roots spread in the dirt. Right: a rabbit eats a carrot with its leaves.
A plant needs sunlight, water and soil. An animal needs food: the rabbit eats plants.

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Find the pattern

What is the same?

Look at animals and plants side by side. Animals need food. Plants need light. But one thing comes back again and again: all living things need water.

People are living things

You are a living thing too! Like other animals, people need food, water, and air to stay alive and grow.

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Sort it: fur, feathers, scales

Look at the body

Look closely at what covers an animal’s body. A cat, a bear, and a rabbit have fur. A duck, a hen, and an owl have feathers. A fish and a snake have scales.

Sort into groups

We can sort animals into groups by what covers their body. All the animals with feathers go together. They are birds.

Five animals in a row, each with a round close-up of its body covering: a dog with fur, a blue jay with feathers, a fish with scales, a lizard with scales, and a frog with smooth wet skin.
Look at the body covering: fur, feathers, scales or smooth skin helps us sort animals.

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Review game

Final assessment

To master the lesson, you need at least 60% correct answers.

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Summary

  • Animals need food, water, and air. Different animals eat different foods.
  • Plants are alive. They need water and light to grow. They do not eat food.
  • Pattern: every living thing needs water. People are living things too.
  • We can sort animals by what covers their body: fur, feathers, or scales. Animals with feathers are birds.

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