This Year 1 everyday materials unit helps pupils identify and name common materials, distinguish between an object and the material it is made from, and describe and compare simple physical properties. Across six sequenced lessons, pupils explore materials including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock while developing scientific vocabulary and early enquiry skills.
Pupils investigate where materials come from, explore properties such as hard, soft, rough, smooth, bendy, stiff, transparent and opaque, and group materials in different ways. They carry out a practical investigation into waterproof materials before applying their learning to choose suitable materials for a purpose and explain their decisions.
Everyday Materials develops pupils’ understanding of objects, materials and their properties while building early skills in classification, observation, simple testing and using evidence to answer questions.
Everyday Materials introduces pupils to some of the fundamental ideas they need for later learning about materials. Pupils begin with familiar objects and gradually move towards describing, comparing, grouping and testing materials before using their knowledge to decide which materials are suitable for different purposes.
Pupils learn to distinguish between familiar objects and the materials from which they are made. They identify materials including wood, plastic, glass, metal and rock and recognise that some objects can be made from more than one material.
Pupils explore the origins of familiar materials and consider how raw materials can be changed to make things we use. Examples include wood from trees, paper made using wood, glass made from sand and materials such as plastic and paraffin wax made from crude oil.
Pupils handle and observe different materials and develop vocabulary to describe their physical properties. They compare materials using words such as hard, soft, shiny, dull, rough, smooth, bendy and stiff, and explore the difference between transparent, translucent and opaque materials.
An outdoor materials hunt gives pupils opportunities to identify materials in their local environment before comparing and classifying what they find. Pupils group objects using their physical properties and investigate how the same collection can be grouped in more than one way.
Pupils carry out a simple investigation to test materials including plastic, metal foil, paper, rubber, cotton and wool. They predict whether each material will be waterproof, test it using the same method, record their results and compare their findings with their predictions. The investigation also helps pupils distinguish between waterproof and absorbent materials.
In the final lesson, pupils apply what they have learned by designing a spaceship and considering which materials would be appropriate for different parts and objects. They select materials according to their properties, label their designs and explain the reasons for their choices.
The six-lesson unit includes:
Explore the wider Year 1 science curriculum and scheme, or see our primary science scheme of work.
