Year 2: Animals, including humans
Animals, Including Humans
Curriculum Requirement
- Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
- Find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
- Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene
Pupils should be introduced to the basic needs of animals for survival, as well as the importance of exercise and nutrition for humans. They should also be introduced to the processes of reproduction and growth in animals. The focus at this stage should be on questions that help pupils to recognise growth; they should not be expected to understand how reproduction occurs.
The following examples might be used: egg, chick, chicken; egg, caterpillar, pupa, butterfly; spawn, tadpole, frog; lamb, sheep. Growing into adults can include reference to baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult.
Pupils might work scientifically by: observing, through video or first-hand observation and measurement, how different animals, including humans, grow; asking questions about what things animals need for survival and what humans need to stay healthy; and suggesting ways to find answers to their questions.
National Curriculum in England: primary curriculum, Section: "Animals, including humans", p. 152.
Growing Up
All living things grow and change. A baby animal is called offspring. The offspring grows up to look like its parents, but it happens in different ways for different animals!
Animal Life Cycles
Chicken
A chicken's life starts inside a hard-shelled egg.
The stages are:
A mother hen lays an egg and keeps it warm by sitting on it. A baby chick hatches out by pecking a hole in the shell. The chick grows bigger, loses its fluffy yellow feathers, and grows adult feathers to become a chicken.
💡 Fun Facts
- A hen can lay about one egg every day.
- A baby chick has a special 'egg tooth' on the end of its beak to help it break out of the shell, which falls off a day or two later.
- A male adult chicken is called a rooster and is known for his loud "cock-a-doodle-doo!" crow in the morning.
Sheep
As mammals, sheep have a simple life cycle where the baby looks like a small version of the adult.
.jpg)
The stages are:
A baby sheep, called a lamb, is born. The mother sheep (a ewe) feeds it milk. The lamb grows bigger and its woolly coat gets thicker until it becomes an adult sheep.
💡 Fun Facts
- Lambs can stand up and walk just a few minutes after they are born.
- Sheep have excellent memories and can recognise up to 50 other sheep faces for more than two years.
- A sheep's thick woolly coat is called a fleece, which is sheared off once a year to be made into wool for clothes and blankets.
Frog
A frog's life cycle is a big change, called a metamorphosis!
.jpeg)
.jpg)
The stages are:
It starts as a tiny egg in a big jelly-like clump called frogspawn. A tadpole hatches from the egg and lives in water, breathing with gills. It then grows legs and its tail gets shorter – this is a froglet. Finally, it becomes an adult frog that can live on land.
💡 Fun Facts
- Tadpoles look more like little fish than frogs when they first hatch.
- Frogs can breathe through their skin as well as their lungs.
- A group of frogs is called an army!
Human
Humans grow and change too, but we don't change our shape as much as a frog or butterfly!
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
Our stages are:
We start as a baby, then learn to walk and talk as a toddler. We go to school as a child. Later, we become a teenager and finally an adult.
💡 Fun Facts
- Babies have about 100 more bones than adults! The small bones join together as we grow.
- We have two sets of teeth in our lifetime: baby teeth and adult teeth.
- When you are a child, you grow taller very quickly. An adult has stopped growing taller.
Basic Needs for Survival
To stay alive, every animal (including you!) needs three very important things.
The Three Basic Needs
Air
.jpg)
All animals need to breathe. The air contains a gas called oxygen which our bodies need to work.
💡 Fun Facts
- Fish get their oxygen from the water using special gills on the side of their head.
- Worms can breathe through their skin, but only if it stays damp!
- A sloth can hold its breath for 40 minutes underwater, which is much longer than a dolphin!
Water
_spraying_water.jpg)
All animals need water. It helps their bodies work properly and keeps them from getting too hot or too cold.
💡 Fun Facts
- A koala gets almost all the water it needs from eating juicy eucalyptus leaves, so it hardly ever needs to drink.
- A camel can drink a bathtub's worth of water in just 10 minutes!
- About half of your body is made of water!
Food
All animals need food to give them the energy to move, grow, and stay warm.
💡 Fun Facts
- A hummingbird has to eat about every 10 minutes to get enough energy for flapping its wings so fast.
- Some snakes can go for months without eating a meal because their bodies work very slowly.
- A giant anteater uses its long, sticky tongue to eat up to 30,000 ants and termites in a single day!
Staying Healthy
As well as air, water, and food, humans need to do a few extra things to keep their bodies working at their best.
Three Ways to Stay Healthy
Exercise
Exercise means moving our bodies. It makes our heart and muscles strong, and it can be a lot of fun! Running, jumping, swimming, and playing games are all types of exercise.
💡 Fun Facts
- Your heart is a muscle, and exercise is like a workout that keeps it strong and healthy.
- When you run around, your brain releases special chemicals that can make you feel happy.
- You should try to do about one hour of exercise every day.
Eating the Right Foods
Eating the right amount of different foods is called a 'balanced diet'. It gives our bodies all the different things they need to grow strong, fight off germs, and have plenty of energy.
💡 Fun Facts
- Fruit and vegetables give us vitamins that help us stay healthy.
- Foods like bread and pasta give us energy for running and playing.
- Foods like milk and cheese have calcium in them, which is great for building strong bones and teeth.
Hygiene
Hygiene means keeping ourselves clean to stop nasty germs from spreading and making us ill. This includes washing our hands, brushing our teeth, and having a bath or shower.
💡 Fun Facts
- You should always wash your hands after going to the toilet and before eating.
- There are more germs on a kitchen sponge than on a toilet seat!
- Brushing your teeth for two minutes gets rid of tiny bits of food and sugar that can cause holes called cavities.
Activities & Reflections
Activities
Life Cycle Wheels
Give pupils a paper plate divided into four sections. They can draw the four main stages of a frog's or butterfly's life cycle in the correct order to create a life cycle wheel.
My Healthy Day
Ask pupils to draw a picture of a healthy day. They should include some exercise they like to do, a healthy meal they would eat, and a picture of them doing something to keep clean, like brushing their teeth.
Animal Needs Hunt
In the playground or school field, ask pupils to find things that show animals have what they need. For example, a puddle (water for birds), a worm (food for birds), or just the open space (air for everything!).
Reflections
Self-Reflection (Exit Ticket)
On a piece of paper, ask pupils to draw one thing a human needs to stay healthy that a pet dog might not need. (e.g. brushing teeth, eating vegetables).
Paired Reflection (Think-Pair-Share)
Ask pupils to turn to their partner and tell them one way a baby animal is different from its adult parent.
Group Reflection
In small groups, pupils can discuss: Why can't a human live underwater like a fish? What is the main difference?
Whole Class Share-Out
As a class, discuss: What do you think is the most important rule for staying healthy and why?
Back to: Science