Science Worksheet · Grades 1–3
Living and Nonliving Things Worksheet
A printable life-science worksheet for grades 1-3 on living and nonliving things: living things grow, need food, water, and air, respond to their surroundings, and reproduce. Students classify eight things as living or nonliving, then answer four short questions. A complete answer key is included.
Subject
Science
Grades
Grades 1–3
Skill Focus
Living and Nonliving Things, life science
Lesson Length
15 minutes
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Telling living from nonliving is one of the first big ideas in life science, and it is trickier than it looks because some nonliving things move or make noise. This worksheet pins down the characteristics that all living things share – they grow, need food and water and air, respond to their surroundings, and reproduce – so students have a real test instead of a guess.
Section A lists eight things (oak tree, rock, cactus, toy robot, butterfly, bicycle, mushroom, cloud) and asks students to label each living or nonliving. The set is chosen to challenge the move-equals-alive misconception: a toy robot moves but is nonliving, while a still, dry-looking cactus and a mushroom are living. The reference box teaches the characteristics of life and warns that moving or making noise does not make something alive, but names none of the eight Section A things.
Section B is short-answer on page 2. Students name two things all living things do, decide whether a car is living, explain why a seed is alive, and justify why a chosen object is nonliving. Page 3 is a complete answer key. The skill is the gateway to classification, life cycles, and ecosystems.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box aloud and chant the test: grow, need food and water and air, respond, reproduce.
Complete Section A independently; review the tricky items (toy robot, cactus, mushroom) as a class.
Discuss Section B item 2 (a car moves but is nonliving) to clear up the move-equals-alive idea.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or teacher review.
Pair with the Animal Classification Worksheet or the Plant Life Cycle Worksheet for a life-science mini-unit.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Full Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Living and Nonliving Things Worksheet
A printable life-science worksheet for grades 1-3 on living and nonliving things: living things grow, need food, water, and air, respond to their surroundings, and reproduce. Students classify eight things as living or nonliving, then answer four short questions. A complete answer key is included.
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