Moral & Ethical Discussion: What Counts as Life?
Level 1
Theme: Caring for Living Things
Focus: Recognizing life and thinking about how we treat it
Discussion Prompt:
“If something is alive, do we need to take care of it?”
Guiding Questions:

• How do you know if something is alive?
• What do living things need to stay alive?
• What can we do to help plants or animals stay safe and healthy?
• Is it okay to squish a bug? What about pulling a flower? Why or why not?

Activity Ideas:
Talk Time: Show pictures of a tree, a bug, a pet, and a flower. 
Ask: “Which of these are alive? What would happen if we didn’t take care of them?”


Level 2
Focus: Concrete thinking, empathy, fairness
Prompt:
"If we know something is alive, should we always try to protect it? What about things like bugs, weeds, or germs?"
Follow-up questions:

• Is it okay to hurt some living things but not others?
• Should we treat all animals the same?
• Can we tell what is important just by looking at size or cuteness?

Activity Idea:
Give students different living things (images or word cards: bee, mosquito, mushroom, dog, bacteria, tree) and ask:
“Should we protect this? Why or why not?”