Topics · Primary Science · Diversity: Living & Non-living
Living, non-living and once-living
Living things do a set of things non-living things never do. There is also a third group that trips people up: things that were once part of a living thing and are not alive now.
- 136 exam papers analysed
- appears in 62% of P3 Science papers
- ~3 min read
01 What all living things do
A thing is living only if it does all of these, not just one or two.
- Grow — get bigger from the inside, not by having more added on.
- Reproduce — produce young of the same kind.
- Respond to their surroundings — to light, touch, heat.
- Need food, water and air.
- Get rid of waste.
- Move on their own, at least in part. Plants turn towards light and open and close their flowers.
02 The third group
Once-living things came from something alive but are not alive now: a wooden table, a leather shoe, a cotton shirt, a dead leaf, paper.
They are not non-living in the way a rock is, and papers make you separate the three.
A rock, a plastic bottle and water are non-living — never alive at any point.
So the question to ask is not just is it alive, but was it ever.
| Thing | Alive now? | Ever alive? | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree | ✓ | ✓ | living |
| Wooden chair | ✗ | ✓ | once-living |
| Dead leaf | ✗ | ✓ | once-living |
| Rock | ✗ | ✗ | non-living |
| Plastic bottle | ✗ | ✗ | non-living |
03 The things that look alive and are not
Papers pick examples that do one living-thing behaviour and none of the others.
A car moves — but it does not grow, reproduce or respond. Movement alone proves nothing.
A fire grows, needs air and gives off waste — but it does not reproduce or respond, and it is not made of cells. Fire is the classic trap.
A crystal gets bigger — by material being added on the outside, not by growing from within.
A seed looks lifeless — and is living. It is dormant, and germinates given water, air and warmth.
04 Plants are living too
Children readily accept animals as living and hesitate over plants, because plants do not move about.
But plants do everything on the list: they grow, reproduce by seeds, respond by turning towards light, need water and air, and get rid of waste.
Movement does not have to mean travelling. A plant turning to face the light is responding and moving, in the sense the list means.
05 How to say them
These are words most children have never said out loud, and a word you cannot say is a word you avoid using. Capitals mark the syllable you lean on. Tap the speaker to hear it.
- living
Doing all the things living things do: growing, reproducing, responding, needing food, water and air, and removing waste.
- non-living
Never alive at any point, like a rock or a plastic bottle.
- once-living
Came from something alive but is not alive now: wood, leather, cotton, a dead leaf.
- respondsayri-SPOND
To react to surroundings — to light, touch or heat.
- reproducesayree-pruh-DYOOSS
To produce young of the same kind.
- dormantsayDOR-muhnt
Alive but not active, like a seed before it germinates.
06 What each level is tested on
The same topic, asked differently as it goes up. The percentage is the share of papers at that level in which it appears.
- P3
Sorting things into living, once-living and non-living, and what all living things do.
Practise P3 Diversity: Living & Non-living — 9 questions →62% of P3 papers
- P4
Applying the tests to tricky examples, and using them inside classification questions.
Practise P4 Diversity: Living & Non-living — 9 questions →39% of P4 papers
07 Mistakes worth knowing about
Each of these is wrong. Decide why before you open it.
“A car is living because it moves and needs fuel.”
It does not grow, reproduce or respond. A thing must do all of them, not one.
“Fire is living because it grows and needs air.”
It does not reproduce or respond and is not made of cells. Fire is the example papers use most.
“A wooden chair is non-living.”
It is once-living — it came from a tree. Non-living means never alive at all.
“Plants are not living because they cannot move.”
They do move — turning towards light, opening flowers — and they do everything else on the list.
“A seed is non-living because nothing is happening.”
It is living but dormant, and it germinates when it has water, air and warmth.
Now try it
18 questions across 2 levels, marked as you go with the working shown.