Living things grow and develop, use nutrients, respire, remove wastes and respond to their surroundings. Living kinds also continue through reproduction. A car may move and use fuel, but it does not carry out these biological processes.

A sleeping animal is alive even when it is still. A seed can be alive before it sprouts. A young child does not reproduce. So “I cannot see one sign now” is not enough to call something non-living. A wooden chair came from a tree but no longer carries out the tree’s life processes.

Water is absorbed and helps the seed’s processes restart. Oxygen from air is needed for respiration. A suitable temperature matters too. Flooding soil can fill air spaces with water and reduce oxygen reaching the seeds. More water is not always better.

Bean seeds can germinate without light, using stored food. Later, seedlings need light to make food and grow well. Seed types differ in their light needs; do not claim that all seeds need darkness. Soil is useful for later support and nutrients, but a seed can begin germination on a moist cloth.

Eggs in a jelly-like cluster are called spawn. An embryo develops inside an egg. A tadpole hatches with a tail and no legs at first. Legs develop, and the animal becomes a froglet with a shrinking tail, then an adult frog.

The tadpole’s tail helps it swim. As legs develop, the froglet can increasingly move on land as well as in water. The textbook gives an example timeline; development is not identical for every frog species or every condition. Observe pond life from a safe distance without collecting the animals.