Non-Living Things Coloring Worksheet for Preschoolers
Coloring only the non-living things on the page asks children ages 3-5 to apply a real scientific rule — that living things grow, move, breathe, and eat, while non-living things do not — rather than just naming objects. This requires them to think through each picture individually and test it against the rule, building early classification and critical thinking skills. Learning to separate living from non-living things is one of the first formal science concepts children encounter and sets up later lessons about plants, animals, and the environment.
Part of the pack
Month 5: Preschool Subjects and Play | Ages Up to 4Curriculum
How to use this worksheet
Before starting, review the rule together: non-living things don't grow, move, breathe, or eat. Look at the first picture and ask your child to decide whether it's living or non-living, checking it against each part of the rule out loud. If it's non-living, have them color it in; if it's living, they should leave it uncolored. Continue through the rest of the pictures the same way, encouraging your child to explain their reasoning for a few of their answers.
Materials needed
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Pencil
Extension activities
- •Go on a walk or look around your house and sort real objects into living and non-living groups.
- •Create a two-column poster labeled 'Living' and 'Non-Living' and add magazine cutouts to each side.
- •Play a quick verbal quiz game, naming an object and having your child shout 'living' or 'non-living.'
- •Look at a houseplant or pet together and list out loud all the ways you know it's living.
- •Sort toy figures and real objects, like a toy dog versus a real plant, into the two categories.
Tips for parents and teachers
Some items, like a seed or a battery-powered toy, can genuinely confuse this rule, so use tricky examples as a chance for deeper conversation rather than expecting a perfect answer every time. Ask your child to explain why they classified an object a certain way, since the reasoning matters more than a quick color-in. This concept becomes much more solid once connected to real, familiar objects, so extend the lesson beyond the page whenever you can.
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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