Concept Studio
See the idea. Put it to the test.
956 activities from Kindergarten to Year 12, in 13 subject areas. A practical gives the idea, what you need, the steps, what you should see and a safety card. A teacher-led demonstration gives the idea and its hazards; its method is for tutors on the learning platform.
Review
Reviewed before publication (owner’s confirmation, 24 September 2026). That covers every activity here, and a practical’s page lists the sources its author read.
A safety card on every page
The risk, who supervises and the hazards. The 38 teacher-led demonstrations show their idea and hazards here; their materials, steps and sources, and any result, control or note that states a number or an amount, are for tutors and administrators on the learning platform.
School laboratory, not for home
207 activities are medium or high risk. Each says so on its page: In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.
Curriculum references
Each activity lists the NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes it supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
Find an activity
956 activities
Every subject and year · page 1 of 20
Celery in coloured water: how plants move water
Water travels up a plant through fine tubes to the leaves, which is how a plant gets the water it needs; in celery those tubes run up the crisp leaf stalk.
PracticalLow riskDaily weather chart with symbols
Weather changes from day to day, and recording it with the same symbols each day reveals patterns that help people plan.
PracticalLow riskDesign and build a shelter that keeps a toy dry in wind and rain
Choosing materials by their tested properties and joining them in a stable shape produces a shelter that does its job.
PracticalLow riskDoes a ball bounce back as high as it was dropped
A dropped ball never bounces back to the height it fell from, and a higher drop gives a higher bounce.
PracticalLow riskFirst steps with a floor robot
A robot does exactly the steps it is given, in order, so a route has to be planned as a sequence before the Go button is pressed.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFloat or sink: testing objects in water
Whether an object floats depends on what it is made of and, for a hollow shape, on the air that shape holds, not on how big the object is: objects of the same material behave the same way, and one piece of foil floats as a boat and sinks as a crumpled ball.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow much water do living things need in a day
Living things need water every day, and the amount can be measured and compared.
PracticalLow riskInvestigating the wind with a streamer
Wind is moving air that cannot be seen but can be measured by what it moves.
PracticalLow riskLeaves: sorting by shape, edge, texture and smell
Plants have external features that differ from plant to plant and can be observed with the senses and used to group them.
PracticalLow riskMaking and reading a rain gauge
Rain collects to the same depth in every straight-sided container, whatever the width of its opening, and that depth in millimetres is what a rainfall figure means.
PracticalLow riskMinibeast close-up: drawing and grouping features through a bug viewer
A magnifier shows features that are too small to see by eye, and counting those features, legs, body parts, antennae and wings, sorts every small animal in the schoolyard into groups.
PracticalMedium riskMovement stations: sliding, rolling, spinning and bouncing
Objects move in different ways, and the way they move depends on their shape and on how they are pushed or pulled.
PracticalLow riskPaper gliders: changing the fold changes the flight
Air holds a glider up: a shape that catches the air stays up longer and travels further than a crumpled sheet.
PracticalLow riskRamp race: which shape rolls fastest and furthest
An object's shape changes how it rolls down a ramp: a solid ball beats a solid roller, which beats a hollow ring, whatever their size.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSeed in a jar: watching a bean sprout
A seed is a living thing that grows a root first and then a shoot when it has water, air and warmth.
PracticalLow riskSlip and slide: which material slides furthest
The material on the underside of an object changes how easily it starts to slide and how far it goes, because some materials grip a surface more than others.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSorting animals by their external features
Animals can be grouped by features anyone can see and count: number of legs, body covering, wings, fins or shells.
PracticalLow riskSteps in order: following and fixing a recipe
A set of instructions only works when the steps are complete and in the right order.
PracticalLow riskWhat is it made of: sorting objects by material and testing stiff or bendy
Objects are made from materials such as wood, metal, plastic, paper, fabric and rock, and each material has properties you can test.
PracticalLow riskWhich material keeps the water out
Some materials let water through and some do not, and that property decides what a raincoat, umbrella or roof is made of.
PracticalLow riskWhich part of the plant do we eat: making a class salad
Foods come from named parts of plants: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.
PracticalLow riskWhich strip is strongest: hanging washers until it bends
Materials differ in how much load they carry before they bend, and a count of washers makes that difference measurable.
PracticalLow riskA day of temperatures: morning, midday and afternoon readings
Air keeps warming for hours after the sun is highest, so three readings from one shaded spot show a rise from morning to mid-afternoon rather than a peak at noon.
PracticalLow riskA week of weather as symbols and a picture graph
Observations become data when they are recorded with agreed symbols, and a picture graph shows the pattern in one look.
PracticalLow riskBend, twist, stretch and fold: changing materials without changing what they are
Physical actions change a material's shape, and some changes spring back while others stay, but the material stays the same stuff.
PracticalLow riskChanging direction: a side push on a rolling ball
A moving object keeps its direction until a push from the side changes it, and the new direction depends on the strength of that push.
PracticalLow riskCloud cover and rain: is a cloudier morning a wetter day
Patterns in weather records can be used to make predictions, and the class tests whether morning cloud cover is a sign of rain.
PracticalLow riskDay and night with a globe and a torch
Day and night are an observable change in the sky, and a globe turned beside a lamp models what causes them: Earth is a ball that turns once a day, so the side facing the sun has day while the other side has night.
PracticalLow riskDesign and make a wheeled toy that rolls straight and far
The materials and parts chosen for wheels and axles decide how well a product moves.
PracticalLow riskDo seeds need air: germinating under water and on damp cotton wool
A seed needs water and air together: seeds on damp cotton wool grow roots, the same seeds held under still water swell and rot, and dry seeds do nothing at all.
PracticalLow riskFrom animal and plant to cloth: wool and cotton
Fibres for clothing come from living things: wool from sheep and cotton from a plant, and both can be turned into cloth by hand.
PracticalLow riskGrowing lettuce and radish from seed to plate
Food plants are grown by giving them soil, water and light, and the time from seed to harvest can be counted in days.
PracticalLow riskHigh or low: the length of a vibrating string changes its pitch
Shortening the part of a string that vibrates makes it vibrate faster and sound higher; halving the length raises the note by an octave.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHigher ramp, further roll: changing the slope a car starts from
Raising the top of the ramp gives the car further to fall, so it comes off the ramp faster and rolls further across the floor, and the distance grows steadily with the height.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow hard do you pull: dragging light and heavy loads
A heavier load needs a stronger pull to move it across a surface, and how strong the pull is can be compared by how far it stretches the same elastic band.
Practical, model not builtLow riskIs it hotter in the sun: thermometer readings in sun and shade
Air temperature changes through the day, and at the same moment a thermometer in sunshine reads higher than one in shade, which is why official air temperatures are measured in a shaded, ventilated screen.
PracticalLow riskLoud and soft: more energy, bigger vibration
Putting more energy into an object makes a bigger vibration and a louder sound, and a sound-level meter turns that into a number the class can compare with its own other readings.
PracticalLow riskMealworms: watching a life cycle
An animal changes form as it grows, and the stages happen in a fixed order that can be recorded over weeks.
PracticalLow riskMixing and separating: sand, rice and paper clips
Materials can be mixed without changing what they are, and a mixture can be taken apart again using differences such as size and magnetism.
PracticalLow riskMoon diary: recording the moon's shape for a month
The moon's lit shape changes in a cycle of about a month, growing from new to full and shrinking back.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMuffling sound: which material blocks it best
Sound passes through some materials more easily than others, and a fair test with a meter ranks them.
PracticalLow riskPaper whirlybirds: the push of the air
Air pushes on a falling object; longer wings catch more air and make the fall slower.
PracticalLow riskPlan a route: writing an algorithm for a floor robot
An algorithm is a sequence of exact steps, written before it runs, and a robot shows at once whether the sequence is right.
Practical, model not builtLow riskProgramming people: giving and following exact instructions
Instructions for a machine must be exact and in order, because the follower does only what is said.
PracticalLow riskPush it further: how the strength of a push changes distance
A stronger push sends an object faster and further, and releasing a car from a mark on a ramp gives it the same start every time, so the test is fair.
PracticalLow riskPushes and pulls change shape: playdough tests
A push or a pull can change an object's shape as well as its motion, and a bigger force makes a bigger change.
PracticalLow riskSchoolyard minibeast survey: where small animals live
Small animals live in places that give them what they need: damp, shade, food and cover.
PracticalMedium riskSeasons: keeping a term-long record of daylight and temperature
Days get longer and warmer or shorter and cooler through the year in a pattern that repeats, and the change can be measured week by week.
Practical, model not builtLow risk
For tutors and administrators
The materials and steps of every teacher-led demonstration are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.