My 5-year-old is very interested in space, especially the planets and how they move around the sun. He has been asking me lots of questions about why we have night and day and why we sometimes only see part of the moon which I have been finding hard to explain in simple enough terms for…
Today we are looking at how we know objects are made from different materials. I gave my children this pile of toys and asked what they thought the toys were made from. These activities are all great to sit alongside a materials topic for Key Stage 1. Sort them! – Materials for Key Stage 1…
The hyperlauncher rocket ball factory is a funky science kit all about the laws of motion. The kit comes with everything you need to make multiple balls in 4 different sizes. The balls are easy and fun to make, although younger children would need supervision as they are a bit fiddly. Making the balls involved…
Here at Science Sparks, we love to learn about the weather. This weather station from KidzLabs is a great easy way to learn about weather and the greenhouse effect. All you need to add to the kit is a plastic bottle and, optionally a small plant. The kit is very easy to build and attaches…
Haba toys have some wonderful toys and equipment available for inquisitive young minds. For those of that read my personal blog, you will know that Noah (my eldest) is a little pirate crazy. We even had to make a pretend telescope so that he could have his pirate kit finished. Imagine his face when I…
Choice chambers are an investigative method used to study animal behaviour and to determine the favoured conditions for a habitat. It is a very simple investigation to set up, and one that kids love as it involves searching for insects and then predicting and watching. The living organisms that we chose to study were woodlice,…
This week we are investigating why balls bounce and how different balls bounce differently on different surfaces. Balls bouncing seems like a simple concept, but the science behind it is quite complicated, so please bear in mind that we have simplified it for our audience. I asked the children to choose three balls of different…
It is always tricky to get children to understand that living things can get eaten by other living things. We have tried very hard to make sure my children know that a chicken in a packet was once a live chicken and that they are food for us. So with that in mind, we decided…
Growing cress is great for a fun, fast, educational gardening project. Cress is inexpensive, easy to grow and a fantastic way to teach children about germination and the conditions needed for healthy plants to grow. We grew our cress caterpillar in an egg box and watered the seeds a little each day. How to grow…
We love a science experiment that seems like a magic trick, and this activity is one of the best. We’re going to find out how to make hot ice. Imagine saying to people, ‘I can make hot ice!’ They wouldn’t believe you would they? As far as science theory goes, they shouldn’t, we know that…
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