Animal, plant, fungi, monera*, protista*, car(????)

It took me about a half hour to try and convince Collin that cars are not alive. And, in the end, I'm not sure if I was successful. We were on our way to the lake and Collin asked me if cars are alive. "No", I replied. He countered with, "But mom, cars move, so they are alive." Let me just interject here that as a science teacher, nonchalant statements like this, from my 5-year-old are a dream come true. Now, he had my attention as I put on my Ms. Frizzle hat and hit the accelearator on my Magic Suburu.

Me: They do move, but not because they are alive. (Hmmmm . . . slow start here, mom)
Collin: Why do they move?
Me: Well, the engine makes them go. They go when I push the gas pedal. They go because I put gas in the car.
Collin: Oh.
Me: Not everything that moves is alive. And cars don't eat. They don't need food.
Collin: They eat gas. (WHERE does he get this stuff?!?!?! I love it!)
Me: Cars don't eat gas, they . . . . . use it . . . . burn it.
Collin: Oh
Me: Cars aren't alive because they don't need sleep.
Collin: But they sleep. They sleep at night.
Me: Well, but they don't need to sleep. They usually sit during the night because we are sleeping. And they don't have to sleep. They could drive for days on end without a problem.
Collin: Do cars have babies?
Me: (ahhhhh, finally, my kid has given me the answer) NO! Cars are built on assembly lines. (Insert discussion about assembly lines and Aunt JoJo's dad and big cranes.)
Collin: So, big cars don't push little cars out of their uterus.
Me: Mmmmmm, no.

Final score

Collin-1 

Me (science teacher) - 0

*I couldn't remember all the kingdoms. I had to look up the last two. I am losing it

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