Characteristics of Living Things

Fire can grow. Fire needs fuel and oxygen. But fire is not a form of life, although it shares a few traits with some living things.
How can you tell the difference between non-living and living things?

​Is fire alive?

​How do you define a living thing? What do mushrooms, daisies, and cats have in common? All of these are living things, or organisms. It might seem hard to think of similarities among such different organisms, but they actually have many things in common.

1. Need energy
2. Grow
3. Reproduce
4. Move
5. Breathe

The Characteristics of Life

Why do you eat everyday? To get energy. In order to grow and reproduce and carry out the other process of life, all living organisms need energy. But where does this energy come from? We will explore this in our unit as time goes on.

Living Things Need Energy

In the past, you may have learned that all living things have a life cycle. After living things are born, they grow, or get bigger. For example, cheetah babies may look similar to, but not exactly like, their parents. As they grow, they will look more like their parents.

Living Things Grow

All living things reproduce to make their offspring, or children. They pass on some of

their traits to their children.

Living Things Reproduce

All living things move in some way, even if it seems like they don't. Some animals can walk. Plants can move their leaves, stems, and flowers to go towards the sun. Moving allows organisms to get the things they need to survive.

Living Things Move

Living Things Breathe

​All living things breathe in some way, even if it seems like they don't. Some animals have lungs that allow them to get oxygen. Even plants breathe! We will explore what this means later in the unit.

Drag and Drop

All ​living ​

Placeholder

grow, reproduce, move, and breathe.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

organisms

nonliving

soil

water

Multiple Choice

Which one of these is NOT a living organism?

• water

• algae

• spider

• palm tree

Multiple Select

Select ALL of the characteristics of living organisms:

• need soil

• need energy

• breathe

• have cells

• reproduce