Living Things: Color the Smiles! A Fun Sorting Worksheet
Preschoolers ages 3-5 build foundational science classification skills by distinguishing living things from non-living things, indicated by coloring a smiley face only on the items that are alive. This concept requires children to think beyond appearance and consider whether something grows, breathes, or needs food, an abstract but essential early science idea. The playful smiley-face format keeps a genuinely tricky classification concept approachable and fun.
Curriculum
How to use this worksheet
Look at the first picture together and ask your child whether they think it's alive, discussing clues like whether it eats, grows, or moves on its own. If it's a living thing, have them color the smile on that picture; if it's not living, have them leave the smile blank. Continue through each picture on the page, encouraging your child to explain their reasoning for each choice. Once finished, review the page together, naming which items were living and which were non-living.
Materials needed
- Pencil
- Crayons
Extension activities
- •Go on a walk and sort things you see into living and non-living categories out loud.
- •Create a collage from magazine cutouts, grouping living things separately from non-living things.
- •Talk about what living things need to survive, like food, water, and air, using examples from home.
- •Draw an original living thing and an original non-living thing and label each.
- •Play a quick game naming an object and having your child respond 'living' or 'non-living'.
Tips for parents and teachers
Some items can be genuinely confusing, like a toy animal that looks alive but isn't, so use these as valuable discussion moments rather than quick corrections. Ask your child to explain their reasoning for each choice, since the thinking process matters more than getting every answer right on the first try. This classification skill takes real repetition to solidify, so revisit the concept casually throughout the week using objects around the house.
Written by
Hemsweta Jain · Teacher Cheena
MBA and Early Childhood Educator, teaching since 2014 · Founder of RaisoActive, Mumbai
Every RaisoActive worksheet is designed and checked by the founder before publishing.
Published · Last reviewed
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