Living & Non-Living Things
How do scientists decide if something is alive? Let's explore the clues!
What Makes Something Living?
Scientists use a checklist to decide if something is alive. Living things do ALL of these things at some point in their lives.
Grow
Get bigger and change
Need Water
Drink or absorb water
Need Food
Eat or make their food
Breathe
Use air to make energy
Reproduce
Have babies or seeds
Respond
React to the world
💡 Think About It!
A gum tree does not walk or talk, but it is still alive! Can you think of THREE things a gum tree does that show it is living?
Sorting Living & Non-Living Things
Let's sort things into two groups. Remember — if it does ALL the living things checklist, it belongs in the living group!
✅ Living Things
Kangaroo
Grows, eats, breathes, has joeys
Eucalyptus Tree
Grows, makes food, reproduces by seeds
Wattle Flower
Grows, needs water, makes seeds
Ant
Breathes, eats, lays eggs
❌ Non-Living Things
Rock
Does not grow, eat, or breathe
Toy Car
Cannot reproduce or breathe
Water
Not alive, but living things need it
Sunlight
Energy, not a living thing
Tricky Examples to Think About
Some things are hard to sort! Here are three tricky examples scientists think carefully about.
🤬 Dead Wood
A piece of dead wood was once alive (it was part of a tree), but now it does not grow, breathe, or reproduce. So it is non-living.
🪰 Fire
Fire moves, grows, and needs air — but it cannot reproduce or eat food. Fire is non-living.
🥕 Seeds
A seed looks like it does nothing, but inside it is alive! Given water and light, it will grow. Seeds are living.
🇦🇺 Australian Living Things
Australia has amazing living things found nowhere else on Earth!
Platypus
Breathes air, eats food, lays eggs — a very unusual living thing!
Koala
Grows, breathes, eats eucalyptus leaves, and has joeys.
Banksia
An Australian plant that grows flowers and makes seeds after fire.
Blue-tongue Lizard
Breathes, grows, eats insects, and produces live young.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Is a kookaburra living or non-living?
Step 1: Check the living things list. Does a kookaburra grow? Yes — it hatches from an egg and grows into an adult bird.
Step 2: Does it breathe, eat, and reproduce? Yes — it breathes air, eats lizards and bugs, and lays eggs.
Answer: A kookaburra is a living thing. 🐦
Example 2: Is a plastic bottle living or non-living?
Step 1: Does it grow? No — a bottle stays the same size forever.
Step 2: Does it breathe, eat, or reproduce? No — it cannot do any of these things.
Answer: A plastic bottle is non-living. 🚪
Example 3: Is a mushroom living or non-living?
Step 1: Mushrooms grow from tiny spores (like seeds). Yes, they grow!
Step 2: They absorb nutrients from the ground and release spores to reproduce. Yes — they eat and reproduce!
Answer: A mushroom is a living thing — even though it does not look like an animal or a plant. 🍄
Key Vocabulary
Living
Something that is alive — it can grow, breathe, eat, reproduce, and respond to the world.
Non-Living
Something that is not alive and never was, like a rock, car, or chair.
Reproduce
To make new living things — animals have babies and plants make seeds.
Characteristic
A feature or quality that describes something — like "grows" or "breathes".
Knowledge Check
Choose the correct answer for each question. Click "Check Answer" to see how you go!
Question 1
Which of these is a living thing? 🤔
Question 2
What do ALL living things do? 🌱
Question 3
Is a gum tree living or non-living? 🌳
Question 4
A seed looks like it does nothing. What does this tell us? 🥕
Question 5
Which TWO things are NON-living? ❌
Key Concepts Summary
- ●Living things grow, breathe, eat, reproduce, and respond to the world.
- ●Non-living things do not have any of these characteristics.
- ●Living things do not have to walk or talk — plants and fungi are living too!
- ●Seeds are living even when they look inactive — given water they will grow.
- ●Australia has many unique living things like kangaroos, koalas, and banksias.