- Food chains: who eats what?Living things and their habitats
- Habitats: where do animals live?Living things and their habitats
- Classifying animals: vertebrates and invertebratesLiving things and their habitats
For parents and teachers
These science games bring together related learning across Years 2 to 6. Start with a familiar skill, then try the next challenge when your child is ready. A school may teach these ideas in a different order; use the curriculum statements below to choose a suitable game.
The quoted headings and statements come from the National Curriculum in England. Every game has its own explanation and free printable. Talk through a question together before playing independently, and use the printable to return to a tricky idea away from the screen.
Key Stage 1
Year 2: Food chains: who eats what?
Living things and their habitats: “describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food”
A food chain shows who eats what. It always starts with a plant, because plants make their own food using sunlight. The next living thing eats the plant, and the next one eats that animal. Grass is eaten by a rabbit, and a rabbit is eaten by a fox: grass → rabbit → fox. In Year 2, children learn that animals get their food from plants and other animals, and they use simple food chains to show it.
In this game, children see the parts of a food chain mixed up and put them in order, starting with the plant. The chains use plants and animals from British gardens, woods and ponds, plus one from the African grasslands, so children can talk about habitats at the same time. The arrow in a food chain means "is eaten by", and saying it aloud helps children check each step.
Play Food chains: who eats what? · Free printable
Year 2: Habitats: where do animals live?
Living things and their habitats: “identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats”
A habitat is the place where a plant or animal lives. A good habitat gives it food, water and shelter, and conditions it is suited to. Polar bears are suited to the freezing Arctic, camels to hot, dry deserts and orangutans to tall rainforest trees. In Year 2, children learn to name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including tiny habitats called microhabitats, such as the damp space under a log where woodlice live.
This game names an animal and asks which habitat it lives in. Each wrong answer is a habitat the animal really does not live in, so children have to think about how the animal is suited to its home. Look out for the classic trap: polar bears live in the Arctic (the north) and penguins live in Antarctica (the south). They never meet in the wild.
Upper Key Stage 2
Year 6: Classifying animals: vertebrates and invertebrates
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”
Scientists classify living things into groups by looking at their characteristics: what they look like and how they live. Animals are first split into vertebrates (with a backbone) and invertebrates (without one). Vertebrates are divided into fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Invertebrates include insects, arachnids, molluscs, crustaceans and worms. In Year 6, children learn how and why living things are classified into broad groups, including micro-organisms, plants and animals.
This game asks which group an animal belongs to, or which animal belongs to a group. Some animals belong to two groups at once (a bee is an invertebrate and an insect), and the game never offers a second right answer. Watch for the classic surprises: a spider is an arachnid, not an insect; a woodlouse is a crustacean, related to crabs; an octopus is a mollusc, like a snail; and a whale is a vertebrate mammal, not a fish.
Play Classifying animals: vertebrates and invertebrates · Free printable