Year 1 · Science · Chemical sciences
What things are made of
Children explore everyday materials such as wood, plastic, metal and fabric, and describe how they look and feel.
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These lessons were written around Australian Curriculum strands and matched to UK year groups by age (Year 1 is the year a child turns 6 in England). They are not mapped to the National Curriculum in England or the curricula of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, so check them against your own plans.
Learning goals
Learners will
- Name four everyday materials: wood, plastic, metal and fabric.
- Describe how materials look and feel using words such as hard, soft, rough, smooth and shiny.
- Sort objects into groups by the material they are made of.
Success looks like
- I can say what an object is made of.
- I can use two describing words for a material.
- I can sort objects into wood, plastic, metal and fabric groups.
The big idea
Everything around us is made of something. What a thing is made of is called its material.
Wood comes from trees. It is hard and can feel a little rough. If you look closely you can often see lines in it. Chairs, pencils and building blocks can be made of wood.
Plastic is made in factories. It can be hard, like a toy brick, or soft and bendy, like a lunch bag. It is often smooth and comes in lots of bright colours.
Metal is hard and strong. It is often shiny and it feels cool when you touch it. Spoons, keys and saucepans are made of metal.
Fabric is soft and bendy. It can be folded and scrunched up. Clothes, towels and blankets are made of fabric.
We find out about materials by looking and touching. Good describing words are:
- hard or soft, rough or smooth, shiny or dull, bendy or stiff, heavy or light
The same kind of object can be made of different materials. A spoon can be metal, wood or plastic. Each one looks and feels different.
Worked examples
Describe a metal spoon
What is a metal spoon made of, and how does it look and feel?
- Look at it: it is shiny and grey or silver.
- Touch it: it is hard, smooth and feels cool.
- Try to bend it gently with your fingers: it stays stiff.
Answer: It is made of metal. It is shiny, hard, smooth and cool to touch.
Feely bag guess
Without looking, feel an object in the bag. What material is it?
- Put your hand in the bag and feel the object.
- It is soft, it bends and it can be scrunched up.
- Wood and metal are hard, so it is not those.
- Pull it out to check: it is a sock.
Answer: It is fabric.
Sort by material
Sort these into groups: wooden block, plastic cup, metal key, sock, wooden spoon, metal spoon.
- Pick up each object and ask: what is it made of?
- Put it on a mat labelled wood, plastic, metal or fabric.
- Check each group by looking and feeling again.
Answer: Wood: block, wooden spoon. Plastic: cup. Metal: key, metal spoon. Fabric: sock.
Practice check
Have a go, then check your answers. Each answer comes with an explanation.
Answer guide for parents
Which one is made of fabric?
A sock — A sock is soft and bendy. It is made of fabric.
What is a key usually made of?
Metal — Keys are made of metal because metal is hard and strong.
Which word best describes how a blanket feels?
Soft — A blanket is made of fabric, which feels soft.
A chair is hard, has lines in it and was made from a tree. What material is it?
Wood — Wood comes from trees and often shows lines.
Which one is shiny?
A metal spoon — Metal is often shiny.
A rock is hard. A pillow is ____.
soft — A pillow squashes when you press it, so it is soft.
Trees give us a material for making chairs and pencils. What is it?
wood — Wood comes from trees.
Toy bricks and drink bottles are often made of which material?
plastic — Plastic is light, smooth and comes in many colours.
Watch out for
- Children may think each object is made of only one material. A pencil has wood on the outside and a dark core inside; a chair can have wooden legs and a fabric seat.
- Metal feels cold, so children think it is colder than wood in the same room. It is really the same temperature; metal just takes warmth from our hands faster.
- Some children think all plastic is hard. A plastic bag or a cling-wrap sheet is soft and bendy, but it is still plastic.
Tips for parents
- Keep asking 'What is it made of?' and 'How does it feel?' during everyday jobs like setting the table or folding washing.
- Give your child describing words to copy, then let them choose their own words.
- Safety: leave out glass, knives and anything sharp, and keep very small objects away from children who still put things in their mouths.
Go further
- Go on a material hunt in the kitchen and count how many metal things you can find.
- Make a 'touch collage' by gluing small pieces of fabric, paper, foil and plastic onto card.
- Build towers from wooden blocks and plastic cups and talk about which material stacks better.
About 30 minutes
You'll need
- A wooden spoon or wooden block
- A plastic cup or plastic toy
- A metal spoon and a metal key
- A sock, tea towel or face washer (fabric)
- A pillowcase or cloth bag to use as a 'feely bag'
- Paper and crayons
Key words
- material
- What something is made of, like wood, plastic, metal or fabric.
- hard
- Does not change shape when you press it, like a rock or a spoon.
- soft
- Squashes or bends easily when you press it, like a pillow.
- rough
- Bumpy or scratchy when you touch it, like tree bark.
- smooth
- Feels even and flat with no bumps, like a plastic cup.
- shiny
- Reflects light and seems to sparkle or gleam, like a metal spoon.
Still tricky?
For parents
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Next steps (Year 2)