Monday, March 29, 2010

Living and Non- Living

Here is a simple way to introduce the concept of living and non- living.

photo from amazon

1.  Read the book, What's Alive, and discuss the characteristics of living things as you read.  You could even create a small poster...

Living Things
  1. need air to breath
  2. need food and water
  3. grow and move
  4. make more of their own kind
I would add a small picture next to each item on the chart. 

**The easiest way to do this is to google coloring pages and drop them into text boxes while in word.  You can resize the picture to the size you need it before printing.**

Have your child color the pictures and glue them next to the correct statement on the chart.

2.  After the chart has been made and you have reviewed it, take the family on a nature walk to hunt for living and non-living things.  You can either have your child draw pictures in his/her Nature Journal (one page for living and one page for non-living) or you can give them several squares of paper labeled either living or non-living. 

**If you choose the second option, when you go back inside you can sort the pictures into living and non-living.  You could even sort the living things into animals and plants. 

Then, you can line the cards up side-by-side to create a graph.  Discuss which has more, less, or are the columns the same ("equal").**

3.  Discuss the observations your family made.

Always follow up with another activity in a couple of days to ensure that your children understand the concept. 

EXTENSION ACTIVITY:

-Create a table in word as large or as small as needed depending on the age of your child.

-Open up the internet browser and google coloring pages and __.  Do this with several different items... cat, dog, flower, tree, house, car, beach, etc. 

-Look at the pages and select your favorites.  You will need to right click the largest version of the coloring page and "copy".

-Go back to the table in Word and paste each coloring page into a different cell of the table.

-Create to headings... living, non-living.  Glue the headings into a file folder or large sheet of construction paper folded in half.

-Cover in contact paper or laminate the game and picture cards to increase the life span of your game.

-Have your family sort the provided picture cards onto the mat under the correct heading.  You can create a graph as well... like in the previous activity.

No comments:

Post a Comment