• Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials.

• Explore collections of materials with similar and/or different properties.

• Plant seeds and care for growing plants.

• Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and an animal.

• Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things

• Draw information from a simple map. (Reception – Living things and their habitats)

• Explore the natural world around them. (Reception – Living things and their habitats)

• Describe what they see, hear and feel whilst outside. (Reception – Living things and their habitats)

• Recognise some environments that are different to the one in which they live. (Reception – Living things and their habitats)

• Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them. (Reception – Seasonal changes)

• Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees.

• Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

• Observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants.

• Find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy.

• Identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats. (Y2 - Living things and their habitats)

• Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers.

• Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant.

• Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants.

• Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.

• Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways. (Y4 - Living things and their habitats)

• Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment. (Y4 - Living things and their habitats)

• Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things. (Y4 - Living things and their habitats)

• Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms, plants and animals. (Y6 - Living things and their habitats)

• Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics. (Y6 - Living things and their habitats)