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Life cycles
How living things grow and change: egg, tadpole, frog; egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. Life cycles are a Year 3 outcome, so this is a gentle early start. Little Roos has 4 free games, tours and things to make that practise it, for ages 4-7.
Where it fits
In the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2), with the official wording:
- AC9S3U01 (Australian Curriculum v9: Science, Year 3): compare characteristics of living and non-living things and examine the differences between the life cycles of plants and animals.
- AC9S1U01 (Australian Curriculum v9: Science, Year 1): identify the basic needs of plants and animals, including air, water, food or shelter, and describe how the places they live meet those needs.
Games that practise it
- Frog's Big Change: Life cycles: put the stages in order, from egg to frog and egg to butterfly. Ages 4-7.
- What Happens Next?: Changes, in order: ice melting, a puddle drying up, a bean growing roots, a shoot, then leaves. Ages 4-7.
- Fruit Salad: Putting steps in order: make a fruit salad safely, and grow a tomato from a seed. Ages 4-7.
- The Nature Walk: Something to make.
Away from the screen
About two minutes each, with things most homes have.
Watch something grow (from Frog's Big Change)
- Look for tadpoles in a pond or a creek (look, don't take them), or for a caterpillar on a leaf in the garden.
- Go back each week and see what's changed. Draw what you see.
- Talk about what comes next: what will the tadpole grow first? What will the caterpillar turn into?
Things to ask while they play
- What does a tadpole grow first, its back legs or its front legs?
- Where does a butterfly lay her eggs?
More skills in The world around us, or every skill.
Updated