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Living, dead or never alive

EnglishYear 2ScienceFree

Sort real-life evidence, find pictured examples and explain tricky cases.

What it is about

Classify examples using life-process evidence, handling wooden objects carefully.

Year 2 · 6–7 years · 30 challenges

Before you begin

  • Year 1 organisms, plant parts, body senses and material descriptions.

What the class will do

  1. Sort into groups · 10 challenges

    Sort the life evidence

    Use each real thing’s record. Wood or paper may come from a tree without the whole made object ever being alive.

  2. Explore a scene · 10 challenges

    Find the pictured examples

    Select only the labelled objects that fit this question’s rule. Background scenery does not count.

  3. Choose and explain · 10 challenges

    Explain your evidence

    Think together, then choose the explanation. Use life processes and the stated history.

Using it in class

Pictures represent real things; faces are decoration. Everyone predicts before a rotating representative acts. Use card evidence and optional narration. A wooden object was never a living organism: its wood came from a tree. Full bank 30–45 minutes; short rounds welcome.

Give everyone time to think and discuss before one pupil acts at the board. The class explains and confirms together; hints and explanations stay until you move on.

Use an up-to-date browser on a computer connected to a whiteboard or shared display. Touch, mouse and keyboard; optional audio and reduced motion. No pupil accounts or personal devices.

Choose from 5 challenges up to the full activity. Discussion determines the duration: you set the pace.

A look inside the activities

Sort into groups

Sort the real things represented. Use growing and feeding as evidence of life.

  • Bee: feeds and grows
  • Tree: grows new leaves
  • Rock: mineral, never grew

Groups: Living now · Never alive

Explanation and discussion

The bee feeds and the tree grows, so both are living. The mineral rock has never been alive. Picture faces are decoration, not life-process evidence.

What could we observe on a real plant over several days?

Explore a scene

Find the living things in these labelled pictures.

Ball: toyTree: growingBee: feedingRock: mineral
Explanation and discussion

The tree grows and the bee feeds, so both are living examples. The mineral rock and rubber ball have never been alive.

Can you name a different life process to look for?

Choose and explain

A stone rolls downhill. Does moving prove it is alive?

  • Yes; anything moving must be alive
  • Yes; rolling is the same as growing
  • No; movement alone is not life evidence
Explanation and discussion

A slope can move a stone. Living things carry out life processes; movement alone does not prove life.

What life evidence could we look for in a plant?