This is a great STEM project to get students exploring the local weather as they design and build their very own wind vanes before recording the wind direction over a given time period. This projects is great if you’re looking at points of the compass, the weather, fractions, or as a fun STEM challenge. Teaching Structure: Talk about what a wind vane is and why they can be useful. In small groups, complete the design sheet by getting students to think of their own ideas about how to build a wind vane. If you don’t want to do this, just use the example design. Share each idea and discuss whether they’ll work or not. Share the example design. - Complete the final design sheet if their designs have changed. Build the wind vane. Place the wind vane in a suitable location and complete the record sheet over a given time period. It can be interesting to put each group in a different place and then compare their results to see any variations in wind directions. Complete the evaluation questions. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This is a great outdoor experiment that demonstrates how the earth is kept warm enough for life (as well as global warming) through the greenhouse effect. They will carry out an experiment comparing the difference in temperature between the air in a glass jar compared to the air outside of the jar. This demonstrates the effect the greenhouse gases have on the Earth. They will go onto think about what happens when we add to the greenhouse gases and the effect this has on the Earth’s temperature. **Equipment needed: **tall jar, 2 x thermometers, 2 x pieces of white card, timer, sunshine & an activity pack. Teaching Structure: Ask the students how they think the Earth is kept warm. Explain that there are gases in the atmosphere that trap the warming radiation in and keep the Earth warm. Explain that they are going to demonstrate this process by looking how the air warms up in a glass compared to the air outside of the glass. Get the students to complete the method sheet. Place 2 pieces of white card on the floor in a sunny spot (to keep the floor variable the same). Put the jar with a thermometer in on one piece of card and put the lid on (if the lid is opaque put the jar upside down). Place the other thermometer on the other bit of card. Record the temperature of both thermometers at the decided intervals and record the results in the table. Complete the discussion questions and evaluation sheet. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

For this outdoor science investigation your students will become weather forecasters using only the clouds! Different kinds of clouds can give us a very good indication as to what weather is likely to follow. Your students will keep a record of the cloud types as well as the weather which follows for a few days / week before analysing their data to see if they can spot any patterns between the cloud types and the type of weather which follows. This investigation is great if you’re looking at weather, forecasting, pattern spotting, and investigation skills. Before you start the investigation, explain that before modern weather forecasts many people would depend on their knowledge of the clouds to predict the weather and help to keep them safe. Get the students to complete the table, recording the cloud types and the weather in the following days. Once they’ve done this for a good amount of time (9 or 10 days) they can then look at their data and see if they can spot any relationships between the cloud types and the weather which followed. Once they’ve analysed their data they can complete the investigation evaluation questions. Extension - Get them to complete the research sheet to see if their results were correct. Before you get the students to do their diary, it’s worth looking at the weather forecast to try and choose a period with varied weather. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Growing plants is great fun and can lead to loads of teaching opportunities. For this activity students will plant a variety of species and measure their growth rate over time. The students first look at how they can carry out this investigation, completing an investigation plan. After the seeds are planted they’ll measure the height of each plant every week and record their findings on the table. As part of the sheet they’ll need to work out differences in heights. We suggest using 4 - 5 different types of plants, ideally ones with a clear difference in growth rate. How you carry this investigation out depends greatly on the space you have available. You may choose to use separate plant pots or maybe you have a veg patch available. It’s good to discuss the importance of the plants being in the same locations. Why is the sun important for plants? Why is water important? You can go into as much or little detail as needed in these discussions. It can be useful to set up a timetable of who is going to care for the plants each day. If you choose to use fruits or vegetables (highly recommended!) you can then go onto use these as another stimulus for activities. Suggested Plants: Tomato Spinach Baby Carrots Bush Beans Green Onions Summer Squash Beets Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Growing plants is great fun and can lead to loads of teaching opportunities. For this activity students will plant a variety of species and measure their growth rate over time. The students first look at how they can carry out this investigation, completing an investigation plan. After the seeds are planted they’ll measure the height of each plant every week and record their findings on the table. As part of the sheet they’ll need to work out differences in heights. We suggest using 4 - 5 different types of plants, ideally ones with a clear difference in growth rate. How you carry this investigation out depends greatly on the space you have available. You may choose to use separate plant pots or maybe you have a veg patch available. It’s good to discuss the importance of the plants being in the same locations. Why is the sun important for plants? Why is water important? You can go into as much or little detail as needed in these discussions. It can be useful to set up a timetable of who is going to care for the plants each day. If you choose to use fruits or vegetables (highly recommended!) you can then go onto use these as another stimulus for activities. Suggested Plants: Tomato Spinach Baby Carrots Bush Beans Green Onions Summer Squash Beets Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Growing plants is great fun and can lead to loads of teaching opportunities. For this activity students will plant a variety of species and measure their growth rate over time. The students will measure the height of each plant every week and record their findings on the table as well as drawing a picture of the plants. We suggest using 4 - 5 different types of plants, ideally ones with a clear difference in growth rate. How you carry this investigation out depends greatly on the space you have available. You may choose to use separate plant pots or maybe you have a veg patch available. It’s good to discuss the importance of the plants being in the same locations. Why is the sun important for plants? Why is water important? You can go into as much or little detail as needed in these discussions. It can be useful to set up a timetable of who is going to care for the plants each day. If you choose to use fruits or vegetables (highly recommended!) you can then go onto use these as another stimulus for activities. Suggested Plants: Tomato Spinach Baby Carrots Bush Beans Green Onions Summer Squash Beets Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This outdoor STEM activity gets students thinking and questioning what properties make something either float or sink. They will be faced with the challenge to get a stone to float using only natural materials, string, and tape. Equipment: Stones (roughly the size of a golf ball - the bigger the stone the more the challenge) Tape String Bowl / tub of water Teaching Structure: Get students to think of examples of items that both float and sink. Encourage them to start thinking about what it is that makes them float or sink. Explain that their mission is to make a stone float using only natural materials before the end of the lesson. Put students into groups of 2 or 3 and get them to complete the mind map sheet. Once they’ve discussed their ideas, set them off on their challenge. We find 15 - 20 minutes is enough time for this part of the lesson. It’s a good idea to limit the amount of string and tape they can use. The less string and tape used the more the challenge. Once students have successfully made their stone float or the time has run out get them to complete the evaluation sheet or simply discuss the questions on the task cards. The task cards can be placed at different points in your outdoor space. Finally, get students to share their thoughts and ideas as a whole class. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This diary writing & research project is a great way to get your class learning about and having fun with first person narrative in the form of diary writing (recounts) in the outdoors. This differentiated resource has been used very successful with grades 2 – 5 (years 3 - 6). The children are to choose a min-beast and spend a few days finding, exploring, and researching their chosen mini-beast. They will then have great fun planning and writing a diary entry for their chosen mini-beast based around ‘a day in the life of’. Contents: - Teacher’s Guide - Mini-Beast Identification Sheet - 2 x differentiated drawing sheets - Instructions Sheet - Diary Extract Eample - 2 x differentiated research templates - 1 x Diary Writing Checklist - 1 x planning sheet - 2 x Differentiated writing checklists This resource is a great way to get the children exploring the outdoor while learning about a key writing style. ----------------------------------- Enjoy!

This STEM activity is all about the negative effects that plastic pollution in our oceans is having on humans and the environment. Students will be challenged to design and create their very own invention to help save our ocean plastic crisis. Contents: Teacher Guide Invention Example Differentiated Design Sheets Differentiated Final Idea Pan Differentiated Evaluation Questions Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also be sure to visit my store Saving The Teachers and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This activity looks closely at how different skeletons are made up, encouraging children to think about how different animals are able to move in different ways depending on their skeleton. This activity works best in groups. Give each child an animal card and ask them to create the animals skeleton using sticks, thinking carefully about how the animal moves. Once they have done this and you have allowed for sufficient discussion both with each other and an adult, give them the animals skeleton card and let them see how they have done. They can then take another animal to try. You’ll be amazed at the improvement of their skeletons over the course of one lesson! </br> Contents: A normal and skeleton sheet for each of the following Human Fish Frog Snake Elephant Horse </br> --------------------- Please don’t forget to rate this resource if you enjoyed it. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

The insect trap investigation gets students looking closely at all the amazing creepy crawlies that can be found in your outdoor space by creating small traps. It’s great if you’re looking at living things, habitats, or data handling as well as developing key investigation skills. **Ages 4 - 6: **Students will set the traps and observe what they collect. At this age it’s great for them to explore the wildlife, talking about their looks, how they move, key features, and other general observations. Once they’ve had time to study what they’ve trapped they can compete the observation sheet where they’ll draw what they’ve collected. **Ages 7 - 9 & 10 - 12: **Students will set the traps and wait to see what crawls inside (checking each day for a few days. They’ll identify the creatures and record their results on the results table. They can then use their results to create a bar graph of their findings (you can choose to accumulate all the results or just use individuals). After that, get them to complete the evaluation question sheets which will encourage them to think about how successful their traps were and the reasons behind their results. Equipment needed: Activity pack Trowel Yogurt pot Tray Card Stones ID Guide (optional) Check out our outdoor science bundle here. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Get your class engaged with your forces and motion topic from the very start with this exciting outdoor science scavenger hunt activity. It’s also a fantastic way to assess what your class already know or have learnt during the forces and motion topic. It’s a hassle free resource with minimum prep, designed to engage students with a wide range of learning styles. This pack contains 10 challenge task cards that cover the following areas: Air resistance Gravity Floating and sinking Friction Magnetism My class had great fun in the outdoors while learning and recapping their skills. A fantastic lesson when the sun in shining! Contents Teacher’s Guide 8 x Differentiated Answer Sheets For The Children To Complete 10 x Challenge Task Cards Top Tip: Laminate your cards so they can be used time and time again! Resources needed for cards: 1 - Leaves 2 - A4 and A3 paper 3 - Sticks 4 - Magnets 5 - Toy car 6 - Bucket of water 7 - Tennis ball & similar sized plastic ball 8 - Football / basketball 9 - Bin bag / similar 10 - Tennis ball & similar sized plastic ball Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Get your class engaged with your living things topic from the very start with this exciting outdoor science scavenger hunt activity. It’s also a fantastic way to assess what your class already know or have learnt during the living things topic. It’s a hassle free resource with minimum prep, designed to engage students with a wide range of learning styles. This pack contains 10 challenge task cards that cover the following areas: Camouflage Food Chains Habitats Identification / Classification Observation Skills The Human Body My class had great fun in the outdoors while learning and recapping their skills. A fantastic lesson when the sun in shining! Contents Teacher’s Guide 8 x Differentiated Answer Sheets For The Children To Complete 10 x Challenge Task Cards Top Tip: Laminate your cards so they can be used time and time again! Check out our Outdoor Science Bundle here. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

Woodland tracker is a great way to investigate which animals are sneaking around in your outdoor space or local woodland. It’s a great activity if you’re looking at observation skills or habitats and can be differentiated for all age ranges. For this practical science investigation students will mark out an area using sand or fine soil and leave it overnight before returning to see if they can spot and identify any animal tracks that have been left behind. This can be done as a one off investigation or as an ongoing project where you could introduce different variables such as location, season or food. Contents: Teacher’s Guide 2 x Match The Tracks activity sheet and answers(US & British animals) 2 x Investigation Method worksheets 3 x Results Table 4 x Investigation Question Cards 2 x Evaluation Question Sheets To further differentiate this activity, get students to carry it out multiple times choosing something to change. They can complete the investigation method sheet and questions to help guide them through this. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales.

Imagine if insects had a social media platform… well now they do! Your class will think like an insect and create a ‘bugbook’ page for their chosen insect. This is a great cross-curricular activity that will firstly get students looking at the features, habitats, and characteristics of insects in their outdoor space as well as practicing their non-fiction writing and research skills. It’s great when looking at description writing and non-fiction texts. You can also use this as a base to talk about internet safety using the question prompts provided. PSHE, science, and literacy all in one! Teaching Structure: Explain to your students that insects are getting social and love the new bugbook social media site. It’s their job to observe and research a chosen insect and make a bugbook profile for it. Share the example with them as a starting point to showcase the kind of things they may include. Get students to head outside, choose an insect they’d like to create a profile for and spend some time observing it, filling in as much of the research sheet as possible. They can then compete the sheet using the internet to research. Once the research sheet is complete they can create the insect’s profile using the templates provided. **Internet Safety: **Once they’ve completed their profiles, you can use the 10 internet safety question prompts to have a discussion with your class about the importance of being safe online. This could be done in small groups where each station is a different point outdoors. Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This Science (Keeping Healthy) QR code activity is perfect for introducing the topic of ‘Keeping Healthy’ or as a friendly reminder about how to live a healthy lifestyle. You will be amazed at how much they can learn about keeping healthy in a short amount of time! This activity works best in the outdoors. Hide the QR codes around your outdoor area and then give the children the answer sheet and the I-pads. They must go around, find the answers, and complete the answer sheet. If you are using the QR codes, you will need a QR scanner, which you can download free from the app store. Alternatively you can print the cards two sided (with the answers on the back) if you do not have the technology available. I find it works really well if you get the children to do the QR quiz, and then a week later give them the same questions to see what they have remembered. Contents: - 16 QR Quiz Cards - 16 Cards with answers that you can print on the back of the question cards - 1 answer sheet We hope you have as much fun as our class did! ------------------------ Please don’t forget to rate this product and provide feedback to earn credits that you can use toward future purchases on TpT. Also be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This QR code quiz is perfect for introducing the topic of ‘States of Matter’ or as a refresher lesson for years 3 - 6. It covers a variety of questions on solids, liquids, and gases. You will be amazed at how much they can learn about states of matter in a short amount of time! This activity works best in the outdoors. Hide the QR codes around your outdoor area and then give the children the answer sheet and the I-pads. They must go around, find the answers, and complete the answer sheet. If you are using the QR codes, you will need a QR scanner, which you can download free from the app store. Alternatively you can print the cards two sided (with the answers on the back) if you do not have the technology available. I find it works really well if you get the children to do the QR quiz, and then a week later give them the same questions to see what they have remembered. Contents: - 16 QR Quiz Cards - 16 Cards with answers that you can print on the back of the question cards - 1 answer sheet We hope you have as much fun as our class did!

Building a bug hotel is great fun for all ages groups, however this pack will encourage students to look more carefully at the different insects their hotel is attracting and the habitats they thrive in. For this project they’ll design a hotel and observe the changes over time. It is a great cross-curricular project if you are looking at data handling, habitats, living things, and even engineering. This pack contains two levels of differentiation. Contents: Teacher Guide Instructions Design Sheets Results Table (before) Bar Graph (before) Results Table (after / during) Bar Graph (after) Conclusion Questions Please don’t forget to rate this resource to let us know what you think. Also, be sure to visit my store and FOLLOW ME to see my new products and hear about upcoming sales!

This Planet Fact File is the perfect activity for your children to learn all about the planets in our solar system by completing their own personal booklet. They are required to research key information about the planets in order to complete the booklet. This pack contains two sets, one set where they can draw the planets, and the other where an image is already on the information sheets. You can use this activity in class, however lots of my class loved taking it home as a home learning project! Contents: - Fact File Front Cover - Differentiated Fact File Templates For: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.