Science Year 1
Session B
Animal body
parts
Working
scientifically
Biology Strand: Animals including humans
Programme of study: Identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which
part of the body is associated with each sense
Describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and
mammals, including pets)
Observe closely
Use their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions
School/class pet or one brought into school. Access to internet
Resources
Whole class teaching:
Recap on the human body parts that children named and labelled in Session A. Ask if other animals have similar body parts? Can
children suggest some animals that have, e.g. legs? Do they have the same number of legs as humans? Do their legs look the
same as human legs? List some on the f/c. Ask further questions about heads, mouths, eyes, hands, backs, ears, etc.
Look at a picture of another mammal, e.g. horse (session resources) and ask Are the names of the parts of a horse the same or
different to humans? Add labels. What was different about the horse? If not suggested by children then point out that it has a
tail. Do humans have tails? Explain that actually we do have some fused bones left in our bodies from when our ancestors did
have tails – called the coccyx. Some muscles are attached to this bone, so we do still use it. Children may have fallen on their
bottoms and hurt their coccyx – it can be quite painful! Why would it be useful to still have a tail? It could help you to balance,
you could wind it round branches when you climb trees, you could create a breeze on a hot day by wagging or waving it, etc.
Point out that we do manage perfectly well without a tail though!
If you have a class or school pet, show to children & ask them to draw the pet and label as many of its animal parts as they can.
Compare with a partner. (You could arrange for a pet to be brought into class instead.) Does the pet have some parts the same
as a human? Are they called by the same name, e.g. paws, feet, hands? Does it have some different parts, e.g. whiskers, tail?
Group activities:
Adult-led activity:
Show children a range of animal photographs/pictures: bird, fish, snake, frog, butterfly, fox, dog, etc. (session resources). Ask
children to identify them (generic names like fish, not specific names like trout, at this stage). Can children name the different
parts of the animals?
Adult-led activity:
Download Body Parts pack from http://www.peteducationresources.co.uk/learning-resources/for-teachers/key-stage-1 and
show children the parts of animals for them to work out what animal it is using the PowerPoint file called school_Animal_Parts.
Then reveal the complete animal to check! These could be cut out instead and used as an individual matching game.
Independent activity:
Children visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/ourselves.shtml and tackle the labelling activity in pairs.
Independent activity:
Children draw and label the body parts of other mammals, e.g. cat, dog, sheep, deer, rabbit, fox, pig, cow – give children a list to
choose from. They are likely to be able to name many parts of mammals. Provide a vocabulary bank as appropriate, e.g. paw,
hoof, tail, whiskers, etc.
Independent activity:
Children cut out and match the animal legs to animal names (see session resources). Some children may need support with
vocabulary.
Independent activity:
Children cut out and match animal heads to animal names (see session resources). Some children may need support with
vocabulary.
Plenary:
Go through the matching activities with children. Ask who managed to match them all correctly. Share labelled drawings. Can
other children suggest any extra labels to add?
I can:
1. Name the basic parts of animals other than humans.
2. Explain that some animal parts have a different name from the equivalent human part.
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