🌱 Living or Non-living?

Hello! Every day we see lots of things around us: a tree, a stone, a cat, a robot. Which one is living and which is non-living? Come on, let’s be detectives together!

Let’s plant a seed in the soil. A few weeks later a shoot appears and the seed grows. The stone next to it never grows. It stays the same. Growing is one of the things living things do.

Living things do seven things. They feed, they respire, they grow and they reproduce, which means they have young that look like them. They excrete, which means they get rid of waste from their bodies. They move and they sense what is around them.

This toy robot is walking. But is it alive? No! A robot doesn’t feed, doesn’t grow and can’t reproduce. When its battery runs out, it stops. Moving is not enough on its own.

Plants don’t walk, but they are alive too. They grow, they respire and they make their own food. Look, a sunflower turns its head to follow the Sun wherever it goes. That is a response.

Now let’s sort the cards into two baskets. A fish, a tree and a mushroom are living. A stone, a robot and a toy car are non-living. Be careful: never touch or eat mushrooms you find outdoors, because some are poisonous.

Living things depend on each other. A tree gives a bird a home, and a flower gives a bee food. We water plants and we are kind to animals. Looking after living things is everyone’s job.

Let’s look at the detective checklist. The cat shows all seven features and the stone shows none. To decide whether something is alive, we don’t look at just one feature. We look at many of them together.

Summary: living things feed, respire, grow, reproduce, excrete, move and sense. Plants are living things too. To decide, we look at many features. Now try it in Living Things Detective!