Needs of Living Things
Outcome:
1-1-07: Recognize that plants, animals, and humans as living things, have particular
needs.
1-1-08: Describe what is needed to care for a pet, a farm animal, or an indoor plant.
Materials:
flip chart or chalkboard/whiteboard
writing utensil
aquarium (if available)
Teacher’s Instructions:
1) Ask students the following question: “What do you need to live and grow?” Write
their responses on flip chart paper or on the board underneath the heading
“humans”.
2) Repeat step 1 with this question: “What do fish need to live?” and then with this
question: “What do plants need to live?” Record answers to these questions under
headings of “fish” and “plants”. If you plan to complete the “Meeting Needs” activity
under outcome 1-1-09 and 1-1-10 then keep these lists.
3) Discuss the similarities and differences between each list.
4) If you have a classroom or school aquarium, ask the students to look at it. If you
do not have an aquarium, hand out page 3 to each student and ask them to look
closely at the aquarium on this page. Ask students to identify items in the
aquarium that fish need (i.e. air pump, water, rocks, food, plants, light, space, etc.).
Discuss why fish need each item (i.e air pump to oxygenate the water, rocks and
plants for shelter, food to survive and grow, etc.).
5) If you have not already done so, hand out page 3 to each student. Ask students to
draw or write the names of the items they would need to care for their new pet fish.
An answer key is provided on page 4.
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Teacher Background Information:
The environment in which an animal lives is called habitat. An animal’s
habitat includes food, water, shelter and adequate space in an arrangement
appropriate to the animal’s needs. All animals need food, water, shelter, and space
to live.
Different fish species eat different kinds of food. Some fish eat mostly plants
or plant material. Some fish eat plants and other animals, such as insects and other
fish. Some fish eat mostly other fish. Catfish and sturgeon mainly eat insects and
insect larvae, crayfish, molluscs, and some plant material - whatever they find on the
bottom of a lake or river. Goldeye mostly eat surface and aquatic insects that they
find at the surface of the water. Walleye and northern pike primarily eat other fish.
Fish find shelter in vegetation and
rocks, under logs, and underneath
overhanging banks of streams and lakes.
Some fish find shelter along the bottom of
a lake or river where they hide in deep
holes or try to blend in with the bottom.
Fish need a lot of space. The bigger the fish, the more space it needs. Some
fish are very solitary, such as the northern pike, congregating only in the spring
when they reproduce; other fish, like goldeye, move in schools. The size of an
aquarium will dictate how many fish you can keep. Fish that like to be alone will be
stressed if there are too many of them in an aquarium.
While humans need clean water to drink, fish need clean water to live in. Just
as humans need air to breathe, fish need oxygen in the water surrounding them.
They breather oxygen through their gills. In nature, wind and water currents help stir
up and oxygenate the water in a lake or river. In an aquarium, the surface area
where air can enter the water is very small and there is no wind to stir it up. An air
pump is necessary to oxygenate the water so fish can live in the aquarium.
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