Nature and Animals for Kids
Nature is full of amazing animals, plants and habitats that depend on each other. These lessons explain how living things survive, grow and interact, from tiny insects and fungi to giant whales and ancient forests.
All 65 Nature and Animals topics
Food Chains
A food chain shows who eats whom.
Rainforests
Rainforests are warm, wet forests full of life.
Oceans and Sea Life
Oceans cover about 70% of Earth.
Insects
Insects have 6 legs and 3 body parts: head, thorax and abdomen.
Birds
Birds have feathers, wings and beaks, and they lay eggs.
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and died out about 66 million years ago.
Endangered Animals
An endangered species is at risk of disappearing forever.
Plant Life Cycle
A seed sprouts, grows into a plant, makes flowers, and the flowers produce new seeds.
Habitats
A habitat is where an animal or plant lives and finds food, water and shelter.
Mammals
Mammals are warm-blooded, have hair or fur, and feed milk to their babies.
Pollination
Pollination happens when pollen moves from one flower to another so plants can make seeds.
Camouflage
Camouflage lets animals blend in with their surroundings to hide from predators or sneak up on prey.
Hibernation
Some animals sleep through winter in a state called hibernation, saving energy when food is scarce.
Migration
Many animals travel long distances each year to find food or warmer weather.
Predators and Prey
A predator hunts other animals for food.
Reptiles
Reptiles are cold-blooded animals with dry scaly skin.
Amphibians
Amphibians live part of their lives in water and part on land.
Fish
Fish breathe underwater using gills and swim with fins.
Spiders
Spiders have eight legs and two body parts, and they are not insects.
Butterfly Life Cycle
A butterfly goes through four stages: egg, caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and adult.
Honeybees
Honeybees live in colonies with one queen, many female workers and some male drones.
Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are built by tiny animals called polyps.
Wetlands
Wetlands like marshes and swamps are land covered by shallow water.
Grasslands and Savanna
Grasslands are wide open areas with few trees.
Arctic and Antarctic Animals
Polar animals have thick fur, feathers or blubber to stay warm.
Caring for Pets
Pets need food, fresh water, exercise, shelter and love.
Farm Animals
Farm animals give us milk, eggs, wool and meat.
Animal Communication
Animals share messages using sounds, scents, body language and even dances.
Nocturnal Animals
Nocturnal animals sleep by day and are active at night.
Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores
Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat and omnivores eat both.
Deciduous and Evergreen Trees
Deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn, while evergreens keep their leaves all year.
Fungi
Fungi, like mushrooms and moulds, are not plants or animals.
Seed Dispersal
Plants spread their seeds so new plants have room to grow.
Ecosystems
An ecosystem is a community of living things and their environment, all depending on each other.
Animal Adaptations
Adaptations are features that help living things survive in their habitat.
Bats
Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly.
Owls
Owls are birds of prey that hunt mostly at night.
Penguins
Penguins are flightless birds that live mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.
Polar Bears
Polar bears live in the Arctic and depend on sea ice for hunting seals.
Elephants
Elephants are the largest land animals and live in family groups led by an older female.
Whales
Whales are huge mammals that live in the ocean and breathe air through a blowhole.
Dolphins
Dolphins are intelligent sea mammals that breathe air at the surface.
Octopuses
Octopuses are soft-bodied sea animals with eight arms.
Sharks
Sharks are fish with skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone.
Sea Turtles
Sea turtles spend most of their lives in the ocean, but females come ashore to lay their eggs in sand.
Frog Life Cycle
A frog starts as an egg in water, hatches into a tadpole with a tail and gills, then grows legs and lungs to become an adult frog.
Ants
Ants are social insects that live in colonies with queens, workers and soldiers.
Beetles
Beetles are the largest group of insects on Earth, with hard wing covers called elytra.
Earthworms
Earthworms are long, soft creatures that live in soil.
Snails and Slugs
Snails and slugs are soft-bodied molluscs that move on a muscular foot and leave a trail of slime.
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are soft, free-swimming sea animals with stinging cells in their tentacles.
Starfish
Starfish are sea animals with five arms that can regrow if they lose one.
Crabs
Crabs are crustaceans with a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton.
Chameleons
Chameleons are lizards famous for changing colour.
Snakes
Snakes are reptiles with no legs that move by wriggling.
Giraffes
Giraffes are the tallest land animals and eat leaves from tall trees.
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are marsupials from Australia that hop on their strong back legs.
Pandas
Giant pandas live in bamboo forests in China and eat mostly bamboo.
Tigers
Tigers are the largest cats in the world and live in Asia.
Lions
Lions are big cats that live in groups called prides.
Horses
Horses are large grass-eating mammals that run fast to escape danger.
Cacti
Cacti are plants that store water in their thick stems.
Lichens
A lichen is a partnership between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium.
Ferns
Ferns are plants that reproduce using spores rather than seeds.
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove trees grow in salty coastal water and have roots that stick up out of the mud.
Frequently asked questions about Nature and Animals
How can children learn about nature at home?
Visit a park, start a window box, keep a notebook of birds you see, or watch a plant grow from a seed. Looking closely is the best way to learn.
Are these lessons good for science projects?
Yes. Many topics, such as food chains, habitats and life cycles, make good starting points for school projects and nature journals.
Why is it important to protect nature?
Every living thing is linked to others. Protecting habitats keeps food chains, pollinators and whole ecosystems healthy.