Year 2 Material Investigations Activities

Investigate Material Properties with Six Exciting Science Experiments

Transform your Year 2 Science lessons with this comprehensive resource featuring six hands-on investigations that help children explore how materials behave, discovering their properties through fair testing and scientific enquiry.

Six Complete Investigations Included:

1. How Materials Move Investigation: Discover how different materials move in different ways! Test how balls made from various materials roll, bounce, and travel, exploring properties like flexibility, hardness, and elasticity through hands-on experimentation
2. The Bounciest Ball Investigation: Which ball bounces highest? Conduct a fair test comparing balls made from different materials, measuring bounce heights and discovering which material properties make the best bouncy balls
3. Bouncing On Different Surfaces Investigation: Explore how surfaces affect bouncing! Test the same ball on carpet, concrete, grass, and wood, discovering that the surface material matters just as much as the ball material
4. The Strongest Paper Investigation: Which paper is strongest? Test different types of paper by seeing how many marbles they can hold, investigating properties like thickness, texture, and strength through practical experimentation
5. Travelling On Different Surfaces Investigation: Investigate friction and movement! Roll cars or balls across different surfaces, discovering which materials create more or less friction and how this affects movement speed and distance
6. Melting And Moulding: Explore how materials change when heated! Investigate which materials can be melted and reshaped (like chocolate or wax) and which cannot, understanding reversible and irreversible changes

Why Teachers Choose This Resource:

• Curriculum-Aligned: Fully supports Year 2 Science objectives for uses of everyday materials in the National Curriculum
• Fair Testing Focus: Each investigation develops scientific enquiry skills through controlled experiments
• Hands-On Science: Practical investigations that make material properties tangible and memorable
• Ready to Use: Complete lesson plans with learning objectives, equipment lists, and step-by-step instructions
• Develops Scientific Skills: Builds predicting, observing, measuring, recording, and concluding abilities
• Accessible Materials: Uses everyday items readily available in schools and homes
• Engaging Experiments: Investigations that capture children's curiosity and enthusiasm for science

Perfect For:

• Year 2 Science lessons on uses of everyday materials
• Key Stage 1 materials and properties teaching
• Homeschool science curriculum
• Developing scientific investigation skills
• Building understanding of fair testing
• Making science practical and exciting

Learning Outcomes:

Through these investigations, children will identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials for particular uses, find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed, understand that different materials have different properties, conduct fair tests by changing one variable at a time, make predictions based on prior knowledge, and record findings using simple scientific methods.

What Makes This Resource Special:

These aren't just demonstrations—they're genuine scientific investigations where children make predictions, conduct fair tests, and draw their own conclusions. By testing which ball bounces highest or which paper is strongest, children experience the excitement of scientific discovery while developing the enquiry skills that form the foundation of all science learning.

Building Scientific Enquiry Skills:

Fair testing is a crucial scientific skill that children will use throughout their education. These investigations provide structured opportunities to understand variables, controls, and the importance of changing only one thing at a time—concepts that seem abstract but become clear through hands-on experimentation with familiar materials.

Developing Scientific Thinking:

Through these investigations, children learn to think like scientists—asking questions, making predictions, testing ideas, and using evidence to draw conclusions. This scientific approach to problem-solving extends far beyond science lessons, developing critical thinking skills valuable across all areas of learning and life.

Make science exciting! These engaging investigations help Year 2 students discover material properties through hands-on fair testing that builds scientific enquiry skills, develops understanding of how materials behave, and creates the curiosity and enthusiasm for science that will serve them throughout their education.