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Animal and Plant Parts Worksheets for 1st Graders

13 free PDFsUS Letter or A4Answer key includedNo login

Plant parts and their jobs, fish and bird parts, how animal parts help them survive, riddles, a reading passage and design pages that copy nature.

Download the animal and plant parts worksheets

Parts and their jobs

Posters of animal parts and plant parts, each with the job the part does.

Plant parts and their jobs

Write the letter of each job by the part of a tomato plant, or cut and paste the jobs, and read how plants stay safe.

How animal parts help

Match parts to how they help, sort them into safe, move or eat, label fish and bird jobs, and solve riddles.

Ideas from nature

Match things people made to the animal and plant parts they copy, then design your own.

  • Preview of the printable “Ideas from Nature: animal and plant parts matching” worksheet: matching human inventions to the plant and animal parts they copyView all 2 pages

    Ideas from Nature: animal and plant parts matching

    Matching human inventions to the plant and animal parts they copy

    Answer key on page 2

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    2 pages395 KB

  • Preview of the printable “Design like an animal engineering worksheet” worksheet: designing a solution to a human problem by copying an animal or plant partView larger

    Design like an animal engineering worksheet

    Designing a solution to a human problem by copying an animal or plant part

    US LetterPDFA4PDF

    1 page28 KB

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these animal and plant parts worksheets

In kindergarten, children learn to name the parts of plants and animals. In 1st grade, they ask what each part does. Roots hold a plant in the soil, a hard shell keeps a turtle safe, and webbed feet help a duck swim. Every part helps the plant or animal live, grow and get what it needs.

These worksheets start with posters of animal and plant parts and their jobs. Children match jobs to the parts of a tomato plant, a fish and a bird, and sort animal parts by how they help: keeping the animal safe, helping it move or helping it eat.

Then children see how people copy nature. A bike helmet works like a turtle’s shell, and swim fins work like a duck’s feet. The design page asks them to solve a problem the same way. Pages print on US Letter or A4, and pages with right answers have an answer key on page 2.

Standards

  • NGSS 1-LS1-1Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
  • NGSS K-2-ETS1-1Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
  • NGSS K-2-ETS1-2Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.5.ASort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

How to use them

  1. Show the animal parts poster and ask, “How does this part help the animal?” before children read the line under each picture.
  2. Use the plant parts poster with a real plant. Let children touch the stem and look at the roots of a seedling.
  3. Pick the sort or the cut and paste version of the safe, move or eat page. Both have the same nine pictures.
  4. Read the riddles aloud with early readers, or let strong readers solve them on their own.
  5. End with the ideas from nature page and the design page, so children use what they learned to solve a problem.

Teaching tips

  • Talk about jobs, not just names: “The leaves use sunlight to make food” is the 1st grade step up from “This is a leaf.”
  • Some parts do more than one job. A bird’s tail helps it steer, and its feathers keep it warm and dry. Accept any answer a child can explain.
  • The plant pages use a tomato plant, so children can see a flower, a fruit and the seeds inside it on one plant.
  • For the design page, encourage a quick labeled drawing first, then let children build with paper, tape and recycled materials if you have time.

Questions teachers and parents ask

How is this different from the kindergarten parts of a plant pages?

Kindergarten pages name the parts. These 1st grade pages add what each part does and how it helps the plant or animal survive, and they ask children to copy a part to solve a problem.

What does copying nature mean for 1st graders?

People often solve problems by copying how plants and animals use their parts. A helmet protects your head like a shell protects a turtle, and swim fins push water like a duck’s webbed feet. The design page asks children to try it.

Are there answer keys?

Yes. Every page with right answers has an answer key on page 2. The design page is open ended, so it has no key.