Materials worksheets
Building a paper bridge
Sam wants to build a bridge for his toy car. He has four different types of paper. How could you find out which one is best? Have a go yourself and find out!
Year 2 Super Science Quiz
This quiz covers all the topics you have learnt in Y2 science. Can you answer all the questions?
Important inventions with materials
Imagine that you are inventing a space ship. What features will you include? Think of the materials will they be made from (you can make up your own materials). Describe the properties of each material and
why these will be useful for things you will encounter on your space journey. Can you draw a labelled picture of it?
why these will be useful for things you will encounter on your space journey. Can you draw a labelled picture of it?
Which material for which job?
Some materials are more suitable for particular jobs than others. Look at these pictures and decide which of the materials could be used for each job. Which ones would not be suitable at all?
What’s in your kitchen cupboard?
Can you work with an adult to group some of the objects in your kitchen? Sort them into piles or draw pictures of them on these cards
What do we use plants for?
Look at these different word cards. Can you sort them into types of plant and into functions? Now shuffle the cards and see if you can match the different plants with possible functions.
Using different materials to make a home
Look at these pictures of houses. What are they are made from? What do you think it might be like to live in these houses in hot or cold weather? Let's investigate which materials would not be good to use to build a house.
Transparent and opaque
Can you remember what transparent means? What about opaque? Use a torch to investigate different materials you can find around your house. Which ones allow light to pass through them (transparent)? Which ones block light (opaque)?
The science of making music
Look at these pictures of different musical instruments. Which part is vibrating to make the sounds we hear – is it the skin, strings, metal, wood or air inside the instrument? Record which you think it is below each picture.
That’s my stone!
How good are your observation skills? Have a go at this game which tests how good you are at spotting the similarities and differences between objects.
Sorting materials according to material properties
We can sort objects into groups on the basis of simple material properties: roughness, hardness, shininess, ability to float, transparency and whether they are magnetic or non-magnetic. Collect some of these materials and try different ways of sorting them. Can you make a physical pictogram to show how you’ve sorted things?
Sorting clothes
When it is time to change over your child’s wardrobe from season to season or you are having a big clear out, take the opportunity to involve them and look at what different clothes are made from. Talk about the materials the clothes are made from and together look at the labels showing their properties.
Sinking and floating investigation
Look at these pictures. Can you identify the objects? Which ones do you think will float in water? Which ones will sink? Why? Ask a parent if there any that you can test.
Separating solids investigation
Ask an adult to provide you with a bowl filled with rice, sand, metal paper clips (or pins) and pasta (ideally penne) all mixed together. How could separate these materials? Ask to use a sieve, some plastic bowls and a magnet. See if you can use this equipment to separate out these solids.
Rocks and soils matching pairs
Look at these picture cards. Can you identify the different types of rocks? What might these different types of rocks be used for? Can you match the different types of rocks to the correct name cards? Now shuffle the cards and have a game of matching pairs with a friend or adult. The person with the most cards at the end of the game wins!
Recognise and name common materials
Cut out the cards below. Each player chooses one material card; the other players need to ask questions to help them guess what it is.
Materials: would it work?
We choose different materials for different jobs. Think about the objects below and what might happen if this material was used to make them. Record your answers.
Materials linking game
This game is designed to help you revise the key properties of different materials. Cut out the cards below. Each card has one material or one material property on it. Can you match all the cards together to make a chain, dominoes-style? How long a chain can you make?
Materials in your home
Draw a picture of your house and then go round with a clipboard and identify which materials you can see and label them on your picture.
Manufacturing materials
The shapes of objects made from some materials can be changed by some processes, including squashing, bending, twisting and stretching. Gather a selection of materials from home. Make sure that each object is made from a different material. List the object and the material in the table, then have a go at changing the object’s shape and note on your table what happens.Now have a go at making a glove.