What Living Things Need Notes & Questions | Class 1 Biology | Drishti OS

What Living Things Need

NCERT anchor: NCERT Looking Around Class 1 — Theme: Living and Non-Living (basic needs of life)

What you'll learn

Living things need air, water, food, and space to stay alive.
Plants also need sunlight and soil.
Animals and people need a safe shelter to live and grow.

Key concepts

1. Air and water

Verbal: Every living thing needs air to breathe and water to drink.

Visual: Fish breathing in water; child breathing air.

2. Food

Verbal: Plants make their own food using sunlight, water, and air; animals and people eat food.

Visual: Sun shining on a green leaf.

3. Space and shelter

Verbal: A bird needs a nest, a dog needs a kennel — living things need a safe place to rest and grow.

Worked example

Caring for a classroom plant

Step 1 — Place the plant near a sunny window.
Step 2 — Water it a little every day.
Step 3 — Give it space in a pot with soil.
Step 4 — Check that air can reach the leaves.
Answer: plant gets sunlight, water, soil, air, and space to grow well.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why	Fix
Watering a plant but keeping it in the dark	Water alone seems enough	Plants also need sunlight to grow well
Forgetting animals need shelter too	Food and water seem like the only needs	A safe home protects animals as they grow
Thinking fish do not need air	Fish live underwater	Fish breathe air that is dissolved in water

Quick check

Name two things all living things need.
What do plants need besides water and air?
Why does a bird build a nest?
Stretch: Why can plants make their own food but animals cannot?

Revision tip: Check your class plant daily: does it have water, sunlight, and space?

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on What Living Things Need.

What Living Things Need