How Animals Have Babies
Know that different animals have their babies in different ways — some lay eggs (birds, reptiles, fish, insects), some give birth to live young (most mammals) — and that babies may look like miniature adults or look very different from their parents
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“How Animals Have Babies means sorting egg-layers from mammals with live young, and noticing babies that look alike or different. We will practise once together, then check a fresh example.”
Bring to the table
- Egg-layer cards: bird, reptile, fish, insect
- Live-young card: mammal example
- Baby vs adult picture pair
Extra for the adult
Worked example. Birds lay eggs. Most mammals give birth to live young. Some babies look like tiny adults; some look different.
Optional challenge. For How Animals Have Babies, say whether a baby looks like its parent.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: eggs/live sort; baby look note; support used. This session samples animal babies, not mastery of biology.
Share and support
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Teaching approaches
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2 approaches
How Animals Have Babies means sorting egg-layers from mammals with live young, and noticing babies that look alike or different. We will practise once together, then check a fresh example.
Spend about 12 minutes sorting birth ways, comparing baby looks, then checking one fresh animal.
Compare egg-laying and live birth using named examples, then distinguish life stages.
Compare egg-laying and live birth using named examples, then distinguish life stages.
Family records and proof options
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Practice this concept
Start practiceHow Animals Have Babies practice
Sort egg-layers and mammals, and baby looks.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
PhET Interactive Simulations · Practice link — not the full lesson
Circuit Construction Kit: DC
Before you open · source notes
Circuit Construction Kit: DC supports hands-on exploration for How Animals Have Babies. Not every lab worksheet.
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Source, access and review notes
Public PhET Interactive Simulations HTML5 page. An anonymous GET on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt for this sim URL. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. The sim is interactive in-browser; Gakuva does not embed or host it.
PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder. “Circuit Construction Kit: DC.” External sim; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
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Check understanding
- Gives examples of animals that lay eggs and animals that give birth to live young
- Describes at least one example of a baby that looks different from its parent (e.g., tadpole/frog, caterpillar/butterfly)
- Shows curiosity about how different animals have their babies
“If your child sees a nest with eggs in a nature programme, can they explain that birds lay eggs and the babies hatch out, but dogs and cats have their babies born alive?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Conceptual
- Subject
- Science
- Domain
- Animals of the World
- Age range
- Ages 5–7