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.
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130 activities
Science and Technology K–6 · page 2 of 3
See-through or not: sorting materials by how light passes
Materials let most, some or none of the light through, and that property decides where they are used.
PracticalLow riskSeedlings lean towards the light
Plants grow towards the light they need, so a seedling lit from one side bends that way.
PracticalLow riskSeeing sound: vibrations you can watch
Every sound comes from something vibrating, and the vibration can be made visible.
PracticalLow riskShadow stick: tracking the sun's path across a day
The sun's position changes through the day in a repeating pattern: shadows are long in the morning, shortest near midday and point the other way in the afternoon.
Practical, model not builtLow riskShadows with a torch: size changes with distance
A shadow forms where an object stops light; moving the object closer to the light makes the shadow bigger.
Practical, model not builtLow riskStar patterns: finding the Southern Cross with a star wheel
Stars form patterns that keep their shape while the whole sky turns through the night and shifts through the year.
PracticalLow riskString telephone: sound travelling along a string
Sound travels through solids as well as air, and a tight string carries a voice further than the air around it.
PracticalLow riskWhat do plants need: seedlings with and without water and light
Plants need water and light, and a fair test that removes one need at a time shows what each one does.
PracticalLow riskWhere is it windiest: comparing wind across the school
Wind strength differs from place to place because buildings and trees block, slow or funnel moving air, and a simple instrument makes the difference measurable.
PracticalLow riskWhich side do snails choose: damp or dry
An animal moves to the conditions its body needs, and a choice chamber lets the animal show its need.
PracticalLow riskBreaking into smaller pieces: crushed chalk is still chalk
Snapping and crushing chalk makes smaller and smaller pieces without making a new material: the powder marks paper the same way, the pieces still add up to the same length, and the sealed bag weighs the same at every step.
PracticalLow riskEarth's place in the solar system: a playground model of the planets
Earth is one of eight planets orbiting the Sun, and the planets are not spread evenly: the four rocky planets stand within the first two and a half metres of a scale model while the four giants take up the rest of the oval.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMoon phases with a ball and a lamp
Half the Moon is lit by the Sun at all times, and a phase is how much of that lit half faces Earth, which changes through a repeating cycle of about 29.5 days.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTuned water bottles: how the amount of water changes the pitch
Blowing across a bottle sets the air above the water vibrating, so more water shortens that air and raises the note, while tapping the same bottle sets the vessel and the water vibrating together, so more water lowers the note.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBean in a jar: watching a plant life cycle begin
A seed germinates into a seedling with a root and a shoot, the first stage of a plant life cycle that a learner can measure day by day.
PracticalLow riskBlack can, white can: which warms faster in the sun?
The Sun is a source of heat energy, and a dark surface absorbs more of it than a light one, so water in a black can warms faster than water in a white can.
Practical, model not builtLow riskChocolate, butter, wax and ice: different solids melt at different temperatures
Each solid changes to a liquid at its own temperature, so a warm-water bath with a thermometer lets a learner read off the melting temperature of several everyday materials.
PracticalLow riskCooling curve: how fast a cup of warm water loses heat
A warm object loses heat to cooler surroundings, quickly at first and more slowly as the temperatures get closer, and a lid or insulation slows the loss.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFreezing water: it takes up more room as ice
Removing heat turns liquid water into solid ice, and unlike most substances water expands when it freezes, which can be measured as a rise of about 9 percent in volume.
PracticalLow riskIs yeast alive? Sugar, warm water and a balloon
A living thing takes in food and gives off waste, so a packet of dry yeast that inflates a balloon when fed sugar shows a characteristic of life that flour does not.
PracticalLow riskMelting ice: the thermometer stops at zero
Adding heat to ice makes it melt, but while ice and water are together the temperature stays at 0 degrees Celsius because the energy is being used to change state, not to warm the water.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMelting race: which surface melts an ice cube fastest?
Ice melts when heat energy flows into it, and the surface it sits on controls how fast that heat arrives, so a metal tray melts a cube far faster than a foam plate.
PracticalLow riskMixing hot and cold water: where the heat goes
When hot and cold water mix, heat energy moves from the hotter to the colder until both share one temperature, and that temperature can be predicted from the masses and starting temperatures.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSoil in a jar: sand, silt and clay settle in layers
Soil is a mixture of particles of different sizes, and larger particles sink through water faster, so shaking soil in water sorts it into visible layers.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSolid or liquid? Testing properties, then meeting cornflour slime
Solids keep their shape and liquids take the shape of their container and can be poured, and testing those properties on a cornflour and water mixture shows why scientists test rather than assume.
PracticalLow riskTesting rocks: scratch, streak, fizz and soak
Rocks and minerals have observable, testable properties, hardness, streak colour, reaction with acid and water absorption, that tell us what they are made of and what they are useful for.
PracticalLow riskWhere does heat come from? Measuring five heat sources
Heat energy comes from several sources, the Sun, friction, electricity, chemical reactions and our own bodies, and each can be measured as a temperature rise.
PracticalLow riskWhich soil holds the most water? Sand, clay and potting mix
Different soils hold and drain water differently because of particle size, and the difference can be measured in millilitres.
PracticalMedium riskWhich spoon warms first? Heat conduction in metal, wood and plastic
Heat energy is conducted along a solid, and metals conduct far better than wood or plastic, which is why a metal spoon in hot water soon feels warm at the handle.
PracticalLow riskWho lives in leaf litter? A funnel survey and a food web
A handful of leaf litter holds consumers and decomposers that depend on the producers above it, the trees that dropped the leaves, and sorting what lives there by what it eats builds a real food web from the school grounds.
PracticalMedium riskBuild a rain gauge and read rain in millimetres
Rainfall is measured as the depth of water that would cover flat ground, in millimetres, and a wide funnel feeding a narrow tube multiplies that depth so small falls can be read.
PracticalLow riskDecomposers at work: what rots in a sealed bag?
Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria break down dead plant and animal material and return nutrients to the soil, while made materials such as plastic are not broken down.
PracticalMedium riskDoes a magnet pull through paper, plastic, wood and aluminium?
A magnet exerts a force without touching, the force passes through non-magnetic materials, and it weakens as the distance grows.
PracticalLow riskDragging a shoe with a spring balance: measuring friction in newtons
Friction is a force that can be measured, it grows when the object presses harder on the surface, and it depends on which two surfaces touch.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDrop race: a heavy ball and a light ball land together
Gravity pulls every object toward the Earth with the same acceleration, so two balls of different mass dropped together land together unless air resistance is large.
Practical, model not builtLow riskEvaporation race: sun, shade, wind and surface area
Evaporation is faster when water is warmer, when the air is drier or moving, and when more surface is exposed, and the rate can be measured as mass lost per hour.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow far away does a magnet start to pull? Reach on a ruler
A magnet's pull acts at a distance and gets rapidly stronger as the gap closes, so the distance at which a paper clip jumps is a fair way to compare magnets and to test poles.
PracticalLow riskHow much can a strip hold? Testing paper, plastic, fabric and foil
Materials differ in strength and stretch, which can be measured by loading a strip until it breaks, and those properties decide what a material is used for.
PracticalLow riskKeep it cold: which wrapping slows an ice cube's melting?
An insulating material slows the flow of heat, so ice wrapped in wool or bubble wrap melts more slowly than ice in foil or bare, which is why eskies and jumpers work.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMini greenhouse: designing a home for a salad crop
A sealed clear container keeps seeds warm and damp because water that evaporates condenses on the lid and runs back down, so a designed environment can supply what a food plant needs to germinate and grow.
PracticalLow riskParachute drop: a bigger canopy falls slower
Air resistance is a force that pushes against a falling object, and a larger canopy meets more air, so the same load reaches a lower steady speed and takes longer to fall.
Practical, model not builtLow riskToy car on a ramp: which surface stops it soonest?
Friction is a force that acts against motion, and a car released from the same height travels a shorter distance on a rougher surface because friction takes its energy away sooner.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWater cycle in a bag on a sunny window
Water evaporates when warmed, condenses on a cooler surface and falls back as drops, the same evaporation, condensation and precipitation that move water through the sky, land and ocean.
PracticalLow riskWhere does the water on a cold can come from? Finding the dew point
Air holds invisible water vapour, and when it touches a surface cold enough it condenses into drops, at a temperature called the dew point that a learner can measure with a can, ice and a thermometer.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWhich fabric soaks up the most water? Cotton, wool, polyester, nylon
Natural and made fibres have different properties, and absorbency, measured as water held per gram of dry fabric, is one reason a towel is cotton and a raincoat is nylon.
PracticalLow riskAcid rain on limestone: chalk dissolving in vinegar
Chemical weathering dissolves some rocks, and calcium carbonate in chalk or limestone reacting with a weak acid loses mass that a balance can track, with the fizz as carbon dioxide.
Practical, model not builtLow riskAngle in equals angle out: the law of reflection on paper
Light bounces off a flat mirror so that the angle it bounces off at equals the angle it arrived at, measured from a line at right angles to the mirror, which a torch beam and a protractor show directly.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBalloon on a bottle: air expands when it is warmed
Warming a gas makes its particles move faster and spread out, so air in a bottle expands and inflates a balloon, and cooling reverses it, without any air being added.
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.