What is this skill?
Sorting living things from nonliving things is one of the first big ideas in science, and kindergartners meet it early. A living thing grows and changes, needs food and water, and has babies or makes seeds of its own. A dog, a tree, a frog and a sunflower are living. A rock, a cup, a spoon and a bicycle are not. The idea sounds simple, but a five-year-old has to look past what moves and what looks alive and ask what the thing actually does.
In this practice a child sorts pictures into two groups, Living and Not living, and answers short questions such as "Which one is living?" (cat, chair or car), "Which one never grows?" (an ice cube, a turtle or a cactus) and "What do all living things do?" Some questions show a single picture and ask whether a rock, a bird, a teddy bear or a tree is living. The harder sorts include tricky ones: a mushroom is living, even though it is not a plant or an animal, while a cloud, a river and a robot are not, even though they move.
Why it matters
Almost every later science topic starts here. Habitats, food chains and plant life cycles only make sense once a child can say what counts as a living thing and what living things need. The sorting also builds the habit of giving a reason, because "It grows" or "It needs water" is a better answer than "It just is."
Young children often decide something is alive because it moves, talks or has a face. A toy robot or a cartoon sun seems alive to them. Practicing this skill gives them a short checklist to use instead, and it quietly teaches that appearances can fool you.
It also gives you something to talk about on any walk. Every park, kitchen and bedroom is full of both kinds of things, so no special materials are needed.
Common mistakes
- Calling something alive because it moves. Wind makes a flag move and a river flows, but neither one eats, grows or has babies. Ask "Does it need food or water?" before asking "Does it move?"
- Leaving out plants, which do not walk or make noise. A seedling, a sunflower and a cactus are living, and the practice includes them so children learn that growing is the sign, not running around.
- Thinking a mushroom or a worm is not living because it does not look like a pet. Say that it grows and changes, then it counts.
- Treating a thing that used to be alive, such as a pencil made from wood, as living. The pencil does not grow now, so it goes with the not-living group.
How to help at home
- Play a two-minute sorting game on a walk. Say "living or not living?" about a leaf, a puddle, a squirrel, a bench and a dandelion, and ask your child for a reason each time.
- Plant a bean seed in a clear cup with a damp paper towel. Watching it sprout turns "living things grow" into something your child saw with their own eyes.
- Sort a few toys into two bowls. Ask which ones would need food and water if they were real, and which would not.
- Look at a tricky one together, such as a cloud or a robot vacuum, and ask "Does it grow? Does it eat?" Let your child argue both sides before you give the answer.
Worked examples
These are real questions from the Tutorsaurus living vs nonliving practice, with the answers worked out.
Example 1
A rock. Living or not living?
Answer: Not living. A rock is not living. It does not eat, drink, grow or breathe.
Example 2
Which one can grow?
Choices: 🌱 Seedling, 🔔 Bell, 🧱 Brick
Answer: Seedling. A seedling is a baby plant. It grows bigger. Bricks and bells stay the same size.
Example 3
Sort these tricky ones!
To sort: ☁️ Cloud, 🪱 Worm, 🌊 River, 🌿 Plant, 🤖 Robot, 🐌 Snail
Answer: Living: Worm, Plant, Snail · Not living: Cloud, River, Robot. Worm, plant and snail are living. Clouds and rivers move, and robots move too, but none of them eat, breathe or have babies.
Printable worksheet (PDF) — one page of questions from this practice that work on paper, easier ones first, with an answer key on page 2. Free to print, no sign-up.