Living or Not Alive?
KindergartenLook around you! Some things are alive, like you, a puppy, or a tree. Some things are not alive, like a rock, a chair, or a toy car. Let's learn how to tell them apart.
The five signs of being alive
A living thing can do all of these things by itself:
- Breathe — it takes in air (or, for fish, water) to stay alive.
- Eat and drink — it needs food and water for energy.
- Grow — it gets bigger over time, like you have since you were a baby.
- Move by itself — an animal walks, swims or flies; even a plant slowly turns its leaves toward the sun.
- Make babies — living things can have young ones like themselves.
A non-living thing cannot do these things on its own — nobody has ever seen a rock have a baby rock!
The toy car and the dog
A toy car can move — but only if you push it or switch it on. Stop touching it, and it stops forever. A dog can also move — but nobody needs to push it! It moves whenever it wants to, because it is alive and has its own energy from the food it eats. That is the big difference: living things move themselves; non-living things only move if something else moves them.
If something needs you to make it go, and stops forever when it breaks, it is probably not alive. If it can eat, grow, and make more of itself, it is alive.
Activity: the Alive-or-Not-Alive hunt
Grab a grown-up and go on a hunt around your home or garden!
- Collect. Find 10 different things — some indoors, some outdoors (try a leaf, a spoon, an ant, a pillow, a flower).
- Make two piles. Label one "Alive" and one "Not Alive."
- Check each one. For every item, ask: does it breathe, eat, grow, move by itself, or make babies?
- Sort it. If it does most of those things, put it in the "Alive" pile. If not, put it in "Not Alive."
- Count. How many were alive? How many were not? Tell a grown-up why you sorted each one that way.
Test yourself
Q1 Is the Sun alive?
No. The Sun is bright and hot, but it does not eat, grow the way living things do, or make baby suns. It is a giant ball of glowing gas — not alive, but it gives living things the light and warmth they need.
Q2 Is a tiny seed alive, even though it just sits still?
Yes! A seed looks still and quiet, but it is alive and just resting. Give it soil, water and warmth, and it will grow into a plant — something only a living thing can do.
Q3 Fire moves, grows bigger, and needs "food" (wood) and air. Is fire alive?
No, fire is not alive, even though it seems to do some alive-like things. Fire cannot make baby fires, does not have a body, and does not grow up the way a living thing does — it just spreads. This is a tricky one, and even grown-up scientists agree fire is simply a non-living chemical process, not a living thing.
Q4 A statue of a dog looks just like a real dog. Is it alive?
No. The statue cannot breathe, eat, grow, move by itself, or have puppies — no matter how real it looks. Looking alive is not the same as being alive; what matters is what it can actually do.
How the ideas connect
Every key idea in this chapter, branching from the core concept — use it to see the whole picture at a glance.
The key facts, visualised
Worked problems, step by step
Follow each solution line by line, then try to reproduce it on paper before moving on.
Example 1Is a sunflower alive or not alive?
- Does it grow? Yes, from a seed
- Does it need water and light? Yes
Example 2Is a rock alive or not alive?
- Does it grow? No
- Does it eat, move or make babies? No
Now you try
Work each one out first, then tap to reveal the worked answer.