Plastics Playtime

Plastics Playtime is a FREE resource produced by CIEC aimed at UKS2 children (9-11 years), Scientific topic: materials, Type of enquiry: Comparative/fair tests, Grouping and classifying, Observing changes over time, Problem solving

Primary school children test and classify plastics before investigating their thermal insulation and shock resistance properties. The children then design, make and test a package for a fragile object, using plastics and other materials.

Overview:

This package provides an opportunity for children to think about plastics, their
diversity and their properties.

The children first consider that many familiar objects are made from plastics.
Density and elasticity are investigated to help identify four common plastics.
Children go on to look at thermal insulation as a characteristic of plastics.

The children design and build a package to protect a fragile object and
investigate the effectiveness of their design.

The number of activities and order in which they are done can be varied. A
description of each activity and approximately how long it takes is given in the
table on page 2.

It is suggested that activities 1 and 1a are done first. Activities 2-5 can be done
in any order, or by different groups of children who report their findings to the
whole class. Activities 6-7 can also be done in any order but should follow the
other activities.

The material gives detailed teacher support and provides a framework for
learning activities.