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Students explore the world of animals and learn that they come in many shapes and sizes but are all alive.
Have you ever wondered why a tiny ant and a big, fluffy dog are actually very similar? Even though they look different, they both breathe, eat, and move because they are alive!
Animals are living things. This means they are not like a rock or a toy car. To stay alive, every animal needs three main things: food, water, and air. Because they are alive, animals also grow and change. A tiny puppy grows into a big dog, and a little caterpillar changes into a butterfly. No matter how they look, all animals share the same goal: to stay healthy and grow in their homes.
Quick Check
What are three things all animals need to stay alive?
Answer
Animals need food, water, and air.
Animals move in different ways to find food or to stay safe. Their bodies are built for their special way of moving. Birds have wings to fly through the air. Fish have fins and tails to swim through the water. Other animals, like snakes or ants, use their legs or bodies to crawl along the ground. Some animals even use strong back legs to hop or run very fast!
Let's look at three different animals and how they get around: 1. A Robin uses its wings to fly to a nest. 2. A Goldfish uses its fins to swim in a bowl. 3. An Ant uses its six legs to crawl on a sidewalk.
Quick Check
If an animal has fins and lives in a pond, how does it most likely move?
Answer
It moves by swimming.
Animals come in many different shapes and sizes. Some animals are so small you have to look very closely to see them. A tiny ant is much smaller than your hand! Other animals are much bigger. A dog can be as big as a chair, and an elephant is even bigger than a car. Even though they are different sizes, the tiny ant and the big dog are both living animals that need to eat and move.
Imagine you are holding a magnifying glass. 1. You look at an ant. It is smaller than a inch long. 2. You look at a dog. It might be inches tall. 3. The dog is much larger than the ant, but both are alive!
Which of these is a living thing?
How does a bird move through the sky?
An ant is larger than a dog.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow, look out your window. Can you find one animal that flies and one animal that crawls?
Practice Activity
Draw a picture of your favorite animal. Label one thing it needs to stay alive (like water) and write how it moves (like 'it runs').