How to understand the difference between animate and inanimate nature?

Nature is the world around us with all its inhabitants and phenomena. It was she who has always acted as the main object for research and scientific experiments, due to which many schoolchildren today study the natural sciences. However, from an early age, every child needs to be conveyed what objects of inanimate nature are so that he can correctly perceive the surrounding reality. We will talk about methods, descriptions and examples of such an interpretation in this article.

What is inanimate and living nature?

In the usual understanding of man, nature is flowers, the sun, animals, plants and fossils. In general, this is a natural world that was created without human intervention or innovative technologies. However, in the scientific sense, this term is explained much more broadly: nature refers to all the phenomena and objects that surround us. And in order to distinguish between concepts, each of them should be analyzed in detail. The components of nature are atmospheric air, near-Earth space, earth, surface water, soil, flora, subsoil, wildlife, groundwater, the ozone layer of the atmosphere and other organisms, which together create favorable conditions for ensuring permanent life on planet Earth. At the same time, wildlife objects are all flora and fauna: all animals on the planet, plants of all classes and species, bacteria, fungi. Also included in this concept is a person. At the same time, nature without man can exist in its original form, examples of which are uninhabited islands with their ecosystem, as well as astronomical objects (planets, satellites, etc.).

What is inanimate nature?

The inanimate world is various substances, as well as fields that have energy. It is represented by several levels of organization: from elementary particles, chemical elements and atoms to celestial bodies and the Universe. This term refers to all objects formed without human intervention and consisting of matter or field. An important difference is that objects of inanimate nature are stable, static and slightly changeable. Stones, mountains, water, the atmosphere - all this has existed for billions of years and changes very slowly.

How to explain the difference to a child in grade 2?

In order to visually tell and show the student examples and objects of living and inanimate nature, one can rely on the following facts:
  1. In order to maintain life processes, representatives of the living world need to receive energy from the outside - for example, plants and animals need sunlight to develop properly.
  2. Living organisms are complex, their biological system supports life through important processes. They can develop, breathe, multiply, grow old and die. Despite the fact that it is difficult to notice how a plant breathes, this process is still present at the molecular level.
  3. Objects of the living world can move, show reactions to external stimuli. For example, if you touch an animal, it will run away or attack, unlike rocks that will not budge.
  4. After all, many members of the living world can think and have reflexes to help them survive.
Thus, we examined what the world of animate and inanimate nature is. The main thing to remember is that both spheres are closely interconnected. Matter, substances, energy - all this allows all organisms on Earth to develop and live, creating a single ecosystem.