Today is rung 1 of 5 on this topic
How plants and animals survive
Can do: Explains how an animal's body parts help it survive, and that young animals resemble their parents.
Why it matters
It's the first version of structure-and-function — the idea that a body part exists *because* of what it does — which runs all the way to A-level biology.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Describes what an animal looks like without ever linking a feature to a purpose.
⏱️ Two-minute check
"Why does a duck have webbed feet? Why does a cactus have spikes instead of leaves?"
Solid looks like: A purpose for each, even a rough one — swimming, protection, saving water.
The full activity for this topic · 15 minutes
Design an Animal
- 1Pick a hard place to live: the desert, the deep sea, the Arctic.
- 2List what's difficult about it: no water, no light, no warmth.
- 3They design an animal for it and label each body part with its job.
- 4Compare with a real animal that lives there and see what nature did instead.
- 5Look at a young animal and its parent in photos, and list what's the same.
If it's too hard
Look at a real pet or a bird outside and name three body parts and their jobs.
If it's too easy
Explain why the same animal would die somewhere else, feature by feature.
Say this
"What is that part *for*? Everything on an animal has a job."