Living things share these characteristics:

• Movement – Living things can move from one place to another or move body parts
• Growth – Living things become bigger over time
• Response to stimuli – Living things react to changes in their environment
• Nutrition – Living things take in food to get energy
• Respiration – Living things take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide
• Excretion – Living things get rid of waste materials
• Reproduction – Living things produce new offspring

Aim

To show that living things move and respond to stimulus while non-living things do not.

Materials

• A stone
• An alive cockroach or grasshopper
• Two jars with lids that have small holes

Procedure

1. Put the stone in one jar and the cockroach in another jar
2. Cover both jars with the lids
3. Place the jars on a table
4. Use a stick to gently touch both the cockroach and the stone through the hole in the lid
5. Watch carefully what happens in each jar

What to Observe

• The cockroach will move away when you touch it
• The stone will not move at all

Conclusion

The cockroach is a living thing because it responded to the touch by moving. The stone is a non-living thing because it did not respond.

Aim

To show that plants excrete water vapour through their leaves.

Materials

• A plant with leaves
• A transparent plastic bag
• A string or rubber band

Procedure

1. Wrap a leaf or leaves on a plant with a transparent plastic bag
2. Tie the bag tightly with string so that air cannot enter
3. Leave the setup for two hours
4. Observe what happens inside the bag

What to Observe

You will see small drops of water inside the bag. This water comes from the leaves of the plant.

Conclusion

Plants excrete water vapour through their leaves. This process is called transpiration.

We conduct experiments to:

• Find answers to scientific questions
• Prove or disprove our ideas
• Learn new things about the world around us

When we conduct experiments, we follow these steps:

1. Identify the problem – What question do we want to answer?
2. Make a hypothesis – What do we think will happen?
3. Prepare materials – Gather everything we need for the experiment
4. Conduct the experiment – Follow the steps and observe what happens
5. Collect data – Write down what we see
6. Analyse data – Look at our records and find patterns
7. Draw conclusions – Explain what the results mean

In everyday life in Tanzania, you can use what you learned about living and non-living things when you help in the farm or garden. For example, when you grow tomatoes or vegetables, you observe that the plants need water, sunlight and good soil to grow well. You can also notice that pests like insects attack your crops and respond by moving away when you try to catch them, while your farming tools like hoes or buckets do not move or grow. This helps you take care of your plants properly and know which things in your environment are living and which are not.