Today is rung 4 of 7 on this topic
Living and non-living, and what plants need
Can do: Sorts things into living and non-living with a reason, and knows plants need water, light and air.
Why it matters
The living/non-living sort is the first time a child uses a defined rule instead of a feeling, which is the whole method of science.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Anything that moves counts as alive — cars, rivers, the wind — and anything still counts as not alive.
⏱️ Two-minute check
"Is a tree alive? Is a car alive? How can you tell?"
Solid looks like: Both right, plus a reason: it grows, it needs food or water, it makes babies.
The full activity for this topic · 10 minutes to set up, two weeks to watch
Two Bean Experiment
- 1Set up two identical beans on damp cotton wool in jars.
- 2One goes on the windowsill and gets water. One goes in a dark cupboard with none.
- 3Predict out loud before anything happens, and write the prediction down.
- 4Look every couple of days and draw what's changed — drawing forces close looking.
- 5After two weeks, ask what the difference proves. That is a controlled experiment, at five.
If it's too hard
Grow one bean only and just watch it change.
If it's too easy
Run three: no water, no light, and everything. Then work out which factor did what.
Say this
"What do you think will happen? Let's write it down so we can check if we were right."