Aims and objectives
This activity can be used to support and develop children's understanding of a variety of materials and their properties. The materials included in the investigations are: metals; wood; brick; pigment; pottery; stone; wool and water.

Previous knowledge
Very little previous knowledge is required for this activity as each section contains comprehensive information and suggested activities related to that material.

In the classroom
This activity is a short tour to look at different materials and their properties. As well as general information about wood, wool, water, metal, pottery, pigments, stone and brick there are a number of experiments to help pupils find out more about each material.

As pupils take their trip around the materials, make sure they look out for the 'questions' button - it will prompt them with random ideas for further research.

Each selected material contains information about where it comes from, its properties and its conservation. In addition to the information there are also a number of simple experiments that can be undertaken to underpin the learning in a practical context. Most of these experiments can be conducted in the classroom, under teacher supervision, with materials readily available from in and around the school.

For each material there is a 'questions' button. Clicking this will reveal a randomised question which prompts further exploration of that particular material. It is anticipated that this research would be conducted online in order to make use of the Internet as a research tool. A good starting point for any of these investigations is Ask Jeeves for Kids.

Curriculum references
Science – KS2:
Sc1 1a-b; 2a-m
Sc3 1a-e; 2a-g