BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK ACTIVITY PACK REVIEW - Early Years

Whether or not you are joining in with British Science Week in March you can still download and use their 2019 activity packs to add extra hands on in your classroom.

The theme for 2019 is Journeys and as the Channel Tunnel is celebrating 25 years of being operational there are science and engineering ideas using that theme in every pack.

The Primary and Secondary packs have ideas for assemblies and all packs have a range of activities covering all aspects of science and abilities. Many require very little equipment, often you will find a literacy link such as the journey of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Some will be enough all on their own others will link into many other topics that you may be doing.

All of the packs have health and safety info for a risk assessment should it be needed for that activity.

I like the Early Years everyday journeys Be Seen Be Safe exploring different materials for brightness and reflectivity and I think it is something that your pupils will be able to relate to.

 It is also very easy to resource using black sugar paper to make a T shirt then collecting different materials and using a torch see how well they reflect. These can be added to the Tshirt to make something that will get them seen in the dark winter nights. You could also explore glow in the dark materials and stickers

So many youngsters love dinosaurs so the activity Dinosaur Adaptation where pupils create their own dino, thinking about where it lives and how that impacts on the design plus things like colour and camouflage will really hit the mark.
Your pupils can use model dinosaurs and pictures to think about how they are adapted to their environment. They could make modelling clay dinos and create a habitat using found items. they can also create large drawings or paintings of their own design coming up with a scientific name.

You can find the packs here: https://www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/activity-packs/

Mr Seahorse - British Science Week 2018 Activity pack review 1

A review of the Early Years activity pack produced by the British Science Association for British Science Week 2018








Every year the BSA produce some great packs to encourage schools and other organisatons to take part in BSW.
This year using the theme Discovery and Exploration the early years pack looks at three areas :  the outdoors, the home;  the world.
Within those areas there are hands on activities for 3 -5 year olds.
Exploring the outdoors by looking at minibeasts and building a bug hotel or growing seeds
Exploring the home looking at what happens if you mix oil and water or finding creature figurines frozen in ice
Exploring the world by making giant bubbles or a rocket

There is also the opportunity to gain BSA explorer certificate - you can find out more info here:
https://www.britishscienceweek.org/explorer-award/

I think my favourite of all the activities is Mr Seahorse from the Exploring the Home section.
There is a link to a beautifully illustrated science book by Eric Carle
Mr Seahorse explores the science of fathers in nature - the seahorse of the title who incubates the eggs and gives birth and various other male creatures that in one way or another are responsible for the raising of their young.

Youngsters are encouraged to create a sensory bottle filled firstly with coloured water then sea creatures and perhaps glitter or other small particles  and finally topped up with oil. Once sealed the bottle is tipped gently from side to side as the oil and water swirl and create patterns and bubbles.

What you get is a beautiful but stimulating science conversation starter that links to the story.

I will definitely be trying this one out with a certain young scientist I know!