Plants & AnimalsNGSS* K-LS1-110–15 min

What Living Things Need

Plants with and without water or light, and feeding classroom pets. A narrated life science lab for kindergarten.

Open the lab Try the free lab

“What Living Things Need! Watch plants grow, and find out what living things need.”

Two potted plants on a classroom windowsill, one healthy and one droopy, with a watering can

In the lab

What your child does

Revives a thirsty plant; runs a two-week experiment with bean plants given water and light, light only, or water only; observes and records how each looks; then feeds the class pets the right food and gives them water.

1
Wonder
A droopy, dried-out plant sits beside a healthy one. Tap the watering can: the plant drinks and stands back up.
2
Guess
Three bean plants: water + light, light only, water only. Which will grow best?
3
Test
Water the two plants that get water, cover the "no light" plant with a box, and tap the calendar. Two weeks pass in 9 seconds, with day and night, the day count and daily watering. Lift the box, then tap each plant to look: healthy, dried up, or pale and weak.
4
Think
Which plant grew best? What do plants need? Tap two: water and light. Tapping "food" explains that plants make their own food using light.
5
Class pets
Give the rabbit, the bird and the fish the right food (carrot, bird seed, fish food), then give the rabbit and the bird water. The fish already lives in water.
Badge
The big ideas in a sentence, a badge, and a printable lab record.

A watering can giving water to a droopy plant — Wonder: what does the droopy plant need?

Three bean plants growing, one covered by a box, with a calendar on day 7 — Test: two weeks go by in nine seconds

Three bean plants after two weeks and a chart of how each one looks — Think: healthy, dried up, or pale and weak

A rabbit, a budgie and a goldfish with their water — Class pets: food and water for each animal

The standard

K-LS1-1*

Children use observations to describe patterns in what plants and animals (including people) need to survive: plants need light and water, animals take in food, and all living things need water.

Core idea: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Science practice: Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Grade: Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Read K-LS1-1 on nextgenscience.org

For grown-ups

Talk about it

"Why did the plant in the box turn yellow?"
"Do plants eat?"
"What do you need every day?"
"What does our pet need?"

Try it for real

Plant three bean seeds in cups. Water two of them, and put one of those in a closet. Keep the third on the windowsill without water. Check them every few days for two weeks.

Plants & Animals