Living things and their habitats
Year 2 · Science
Look closely, sort your discoveries and ask why things happen.
Choose a game
Take your time, try a game and collect stars.
Food chains: who eats what?
Put grass, rabbit and fox in order. A free Year 2 science game about simple food chains, with a printable worksheet and answers.
Play Food chains: who eats what?Habitats: where do animals live?
Does a polar bear live in the Arctic or Antarctica? A free Year 2 science game about habitats and microhabitats, with a printable game and worksheet.
Play Habitats: where do animals live?
Learning about living things and their habitats
In this Year 2 science collection, you can practise Food chains: who eats what?, Habitats: where do animals live?. Choose a game above for a short activity, or explore the examples below before you play. The full guide for each game explains its controls, gives more examples and includes a free printable for practice away from the screen.
Talk it through
Start with something you can observe. Ask your child to describe the evidence for a choice, then compare a second example. A game practises vocabulary and reasoning; practical observation and investigation matter too.
Ask: “What clue helped you decide?” Give your child time to explain. Return to an example after playing and ask whether they would approach it differently.
Food chains: who eats what?
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.
Try an example: Put in order: fox, grass, rabbit.
Start with the plant: grass. A rabbit eats grass. A fox eats rabbits.
Show the answer
grass → rabbit → fox
What to look out for
Starting with the biggest animal. Remind children that the chain starts with what gets eaten first: the plant.
Habitats: where do animals live?
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.
Try an example: Which habitat does a polar bear live in?
Polar bears have thick fur and fat for the cold. They live near the North Pole.
Show the answer
The Arctic.
What to look out for
Putting penguins and polar bears together. Use a globe: polar bears at the top (Arctic), emperor penguins at the bottom (Antarctica).
Practise away from the screen
- At dinner, make a food chain for something on your plate: grass → cow → you.
- Lift a log or flowerpot in the garden and see who lives underneath, then put it back gently.
Curriculum connections
These games support selected practice connected to Living things and their habitats in the National Curriculum in England. Use your school’s sequence to decide when to introduce and revisit each skill. A game covers selected examples, rather than assessing every requirement.
Questions families ask
Where should we start with living things and their habitats?
Start with Food chains: who eats what?. Look at the worked example together, then try a round. If the task feels unfamiliar, use the full game guide or its free printable before trying again.
Does this cover everything taught at this level?
No. This collection brings together the games currently available for this learning area. It supports selected skills and does not replace the full programme of study or practical teaching.