Ideas for learning about materials and their properties

We’ve got quite a collection of activity ideas for learning about materials and their properties so I’ve brought them all together in one very long post. If you have any more ideas, I’d love to hear them, so do leave a comment below. You could also share photos to the Science Sparks facebook page. Don’t forget we’ve got 100s more great science investigations for kids you can try too!

These activities are perfect for Key Stage 1 Science in the UK, but also fun for children of any age anywhere in the world.

Materials and their Properties Experiments

Grouping Materials

Try placing different household objects into an opaque bag and asking children to guess what the object is using their sense of touch, which features of the object lead them to their guess?

Make different types of musical instruments, maracas, drums and maybe a guitar and ask the children to match the sound to the instrument.

Image shows a young girl banging bucket drums

Try gently banging wooden, plastic and metal items on a flat surface, how does the noise differ between each? Can you use this property to categorise the objects?

Test objects to see if they’re magnetic, you could even make a magnet maze.

Try sorting a group of toys into metal, plastic, wood and fabric. As a twist on this we sorted Ariel’s cave too!

Ariel's Treasures set up as a sorting activity for kids. Image shows magnets, hair bands, plastic fish etc in sand ready to be sorted

Practice squashing, stretching and pulling different materials to change their shape. Try play dough, fabric, paper, soft balls. Do they break? Do they go back to their original shape?

Changing Materials – Science for Kids

Learn about how heat changes chocolate by making rice krispie cakes or chocolate leaves.

Find out what happens to ice when it melts, you could even make some slushy drinks.

frozen smoothie in an ice tray seen from above - edible science for kids

Trying freezing different food materials, water, syrup, bread, milk etc. Do some take longer to freeze/defrost than others?

Melt sugar and make honeycomb.

Honeycomb full of bubbles for an easy kitchen science experiment for kids

Transform cream into butter. This takes a bit of hard work, but is worth it to see the change,

Properties of Materials

Investigate which materials make the best hockey puck.

Image of an oven dish filled with ice. Milk top hockey pucks covered in different materials and a K'nex hockey puck

Discover the best material for a superhero cape or a fairy wand?

Can you make a superhero float using materials from around the house/school? We used pool noodle bits to make Spiderman float.

Spiderman toy figure floating in a plastic container with small arm bands made from pool noodle

Make your own marshmallow Olaf and test which substance sticks him together the best.

How about designing and building a wooden bed and a mattress for the Princess and the Pea.

A wooden bed, made from wood and cardboard for a Princess and the Pea experiment.

Design and build a cardboard kitchen.

Discover how materials can be weak in some circumstances, but very strong in others. Egg shells are a great example of this!

Magnetism Investigations for Kids

Learn about the different poles of a magnet with these easy sugru cars.

Or, make your own magnet maze to test different materials.

Did you know you can use magnets to defy gravity?

Magnet and rocket experiment — Image taken from **This IS Rocket Science**

Waterproofing Experiments for Kids

This save the dinosaur investigation is my favourite of all my waterproofing activities! The idea is you print the free sheet of dinosaurs, cover each dinosaur in a different material and spray with water to discover which material keeps the dinosaurs the driest!