Skip to content
PlayOwl

Science · Grade 3

Life Cycles and Traits

A butterfly, a frog, a bean plant and a dog all have life cycles: birth, growth, reproduction and death. Learners build and label life-cycle models, compare cycles that include dramatic changes in body shape with cycles where the young look like small adults, and analyze data from puppy litters and rabbit families to show that traits are inherited from parents and vary within a group.

  • 3 lessons
  • About 90 minutes
  • Life cycles and traits check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, label a picture, match pairs, type a number, put in order and sort into groups
Try it now (no account) One of the five free starter courses Open in PlayOwl

What learners will discover

  • Use models to describe that all organisms' life cycles include birth, growth, reproduction and death.
  • Compare diverse life cycles, including metamorphosis and direct development.
  • Analyze data as evidence that traits are inherited from parents and that traits vary in a group of similar organisms.

Lessons

  1. Every living thing has a life cycle 5 steps3 practiceabout 28 min
  2. Different paths through life 5 steps3 practiceabout 27 min
  3. Traits: inherited and varied 7 steps3 practiceabout 35 min
  4. Life cycles and traits check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Marble MountainLay straights, curves, drops and splitters to roll marbles down the mountain.
  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.

More 3rd grade science

Guide for grown-ups