Animal and Plant Parts: How Living Things Survive

A turtle has a hard shell, a rabbit has long ears and a plant has roots. Every part of a living thing has a job. Let’s find out how body parts help animals and plants stay safe, find food and water, and sense the world around them.

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

Before you start

Animal and Plant Parts: How Living Things Survive

Learning objectives

  • I can name body parts that help animals and plants stay safe.
  • I can explain how roots, leaves and beaks help living things get water and food.
  • I can name body parts that help animals see, hear and feel.
  • I can give an example of an object people made by copying nature.

Staying safe

Body parts that protect

Many animals have parts that keep them safe. A turtle has a hard shell. A hedgehog has sharp spines and rolls into a ball.

Plants protect themselves too

A plant cannot run away. A rose bush has thorns and a cactus has spines: animals that try to eat them get pricked. Tree bark protects the trunk.

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Getting food and water

Plant parts

The roots of a plant take in water from the soil and hold the plant in place. The leaves need light, so they turn toward it.

Animal parts

Animals use their body parts to eat. A bird has no hands and no teeth: its beak cracks seeds or catches insects.

A small blue and orange bird dives head first into a clear river, its long pointed beak open toward a fish under the water.
The kingfisher's long, pointed beak goes into the water like an arrow to catch a fish.
On the left, a hawk on a branch, with a close-up (1) of its strong yellow toes and long curved claws. On the right, a sparrow on a thin twig, with a close-up (2) of its small thin toes wrapped around the twig.
1. A hawk's feet have long, sharp claws to grab its food. 2. A sparrow's small toes wrap around a thin twig to hold on.

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Seeing, hearing and feeling

Eyes and ears

Animals use their eyes and ears to find food and to notice danger. A rabbit’s long ears hear a fox far away. An owl’s big eyes see in the dark.

Feeling the way

A cat’s whiskers feel the smallest touch. They help the cat know if it can fit through a gap, even in the dark.

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Copying nature

Ideas from nature

People look at animals and plants to get ideas. Swim fins copy the webbed feet of a duck. A bike helmet is hard, like a turtle shell.

The burdock and the strap

Burdock seeds have tiny hooks that stick to fur. This idea gave us the hook-and-loop strap on shoes and bags.

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Review game

Final assessment

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

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Summary

  • A shell, spines or thorns help animals and plants stay safe.
  • Roots take in water, leaves turn toward the light, and a beak helps a bird eat.
  • Eyes, ears and whiskers help animals find food and notice danger.
  • An animal does not choose its body parts: it is born with them.
  • People copy nature to make objects, like swim fins and helmets.

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