In Japanese schools, some classes grow plants or keep medaka (small Japanese rice fish), goldfish, and other small animals in the classroom or elsewhere on school grounds. The purpose is not simply to make the classroom more interesting. By taking care of living things over time, children can learn things that are difficult to understand from textbooks alone.
Tasks such as feeding fish, changing water, or watering plants may be assigned on a rotating basis. For children who like animals or plants, this can be enjoyable. But enjoyment is not the only point. If it is your turn, you are expected to do the job even when you do not particularly feel like it. Caring for a living thing is not something you do once and forget about. It continues the next day, and the day after that. A living thing does not wait just because someone forgot whose turn it was.
Daily care also teaches children to notice small changes. A fish may seem less active, the water may become dirty, eggs may appear, new leaves may grow, or a flower may bloom. By watching these changes over time, children develop the habit of observing carefully. Learning how living things grow in a lesson is one thing. Watching that process happen in front of you is another.
Of course, things do not always go smoothly. A child may forget to feed the fish or water the plants, and a living thing may weaken as a result. But those problems can also become part of the learning. Children see that neglect has consequences and that caring for a living thing comes with responsibility.
Plants teach similar lessons. If they are not watered, they wilt. Their growth changes with the seasons. They may not react as obviously as animals do, but they still need continued care.
Not every child enjoys dealing with animals or plants. Even so, school is not a place where people can always avoid everything they dislike. Children may still need to take part, carry out an assigned role, and work with others when something goes wrong.
So the point of keeping plants, fish, or small animals at school is not only to learn how to raise them. The experience can also teach observation, responsibility, cooperation, and how to deal with mistakes and problems that come with caring for something alive.