🔬 ScienceLevel 1Lesson 2
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Nonliving Things Around Us

Lesson preview: the Mini Lesson and Vocabulary are open to everyone. Guided practice, exercises, the parent checklist and the printable PDF worksheet come with full access (free 7-day trial or membership).

Learning Objectives

  • 1Identify nonliving things around you
  • 2Explain three reasons why they are not living
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Mini Lesson

Your home, the park, and your yard are full of nonliving things. Knowing how to spot them makes you a real scientist!

A nonliving thing does not grow

  • A table is the same size today as it was last year.
  • A shoe stays the same — it never gets bigger on its own.
  • Example: A window never grows taller.

A nonliving thing does not need food, water, or air

  • You can leave a spoon in a drawer for years — it will be fine.
  • A brick does not need a drink of water to survive.

A nonliving thing cannot make more of itself

  • A ball cannot make baby balls. A cup cannot make little cups.
  • Only living things can reproduce.

Some tricky ones to watch out for

  • Fire moves and uses oxygen — but it is nonliving. It cannot reproduce.
  • Water flows — but it is nonliving. It does not grow or need food.
  • Wood was once part of a living tree, but cut wood is nonliving.
Common nonliving objects at a lesson tableA desk, a chair, a book, and a window shown as nonliving objects with labels.Nonliving things around usdeskchairbookwindowNone of these grow, breathe, or have babies.
Common lesson-table objects — all nonliving.
The three NO test for nonliving thingsThree questions: Does it grow? Does it need food? Can it reproduce? All answered NO for nonliving things.The 3 NO testNODoes it grow on its own?A rock never gets bigger.NODoes it need food and water?A chair needs nothing to survive.NOCan it make more of itself?A ball cannot make baby balls.
If the answer is NO to all three — it is nonliving.
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Ask yourself: "Does it grow on its own? Does it need food and water? Can it make babies? If all three are NO — it is nonliving!"

Vocabulary
Nonliving
Something that does not grow, eat, drink, or make babiese.g. A rock is nonliving.
Living
Something that grows, needs food and water, and can make babiese.g. A puppy is a living thing.
Reproduce
To make more of yourself, like a plant making seedse.g. Animals reproduce to have babies.
Grow
To get bigger over timee.g. A tree grows taller every year.
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← Lesson 1: What Is Living?Lesson 3: Plants Need Sunlight and Water →