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 14 of 20
How many cups fill the jug: capacity with uniform units
Capacity is measured by counting how many times a smaller container fills a larger one, and the estimate can be improved after the first few cupfuls.
PracticalLow riskMeasuring with paperclips: uniform units end to end
A length is measured by laying identical units end to end with no gaps or overlaps, and a smaller unit gives a bigger count for the same length.
PracticalLow riskPacking a box: volume with cubes in layers
The volume of a box is the number of identical cubes that pack it without gaps, and the cubes sit in layers that each hold the same number.
PracticalLow riskQuarter, half and full turns with bodies and clock hands
A turn is measured by how far round something goes, so two quarter turns make a half turn, four make a full turn, and three quarter turns one way end where one quarter turn the other way ends.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRoll, stack or slide: sorting 3D objects by what they can do
The flat faces and curved surfaces of an object decide whether it can roll, stack or slide, so objects can be sorted by testing them.
PracticalLow riskTally, table, picture graph: a class survey
Answers to a question can be collected with tally marks, organised in a table and shown in a picture graph where one picture stands for one answer.
PracticalLow riskThe twentieth bead: finding the unit of repeat
A repeating pattern is fixed by its unit of repeat, so the length of the unit tells you the element at any position without building the whole pattern.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWill it happen: chance words and ten coin tosses
Some events are certain, some are impossible and some might happen, and a coin toss is an event that might go either way every time.
PracticalLow riskArrays and area: multiplication facts to 10 by 10
A multiplication fact is the number of squares in a rectangle of rows and columns, so a hard fact can be split into two easy rectangles and added.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBalancing number sentences: finding the missing value
The equals sign means both sides balance, so a missing value is whatever makes the two pans level, and the same balance shows addition and subtraction as a pair.
Practical, model not builtLow riskCounting by quarters along a rope
Fractions are numbers with places on a number line, so counting by quarters passes 1 and continues to mixed numerals such as one and a quarter.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDollars and cents: making $1 many ways and weighing coins
One dollar is 100 cents, so an amount is written in dollars and cents and made from many coin combinations, and because 5c, 10c and 20c coins have a mass in proportion to their value, a dollar of any of them has the same mass.
Practical, model not builtLow riskEstimate, then measure: metres, centimetres and millimetres
Metric units are fixed sizes that everyone shares, and an estimate improves when it is checked against a measurement and the error is recorded.
PracticalLow riskFair or unfair: spinners with unequal sectors
On a spinner the chance of a colour depends on how much of the circle it covers, so a colour with a bigger sector comes up more often over many spins.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFold and mirror: lines of symmetry and turning symmetry
A shape has a line of symmetry when folding along it makes the halves match exactly, and it has turning symmetry when it fits its own outline before a full turn.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFraction strips: unit fractions and completing the whole
A unit fraction is one of several equal parts of a whole, and enough copies of it laid end to end make the whole again.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFrom survey to column graph: a statistical investigation
A question is answered by collecting data with a method that everyone follows, recording it in a frequency table and drawing a graph whose scale suits the numbers.
PracticalLow riskGrid references: a map of the playground
A grid names every cell by a column letter and a row number, so a place on a map can be given and found by two symbols.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow many in the jar: estimating a collection by sampling
A large collection can be estimated by counting one scoop, counting how many scoops fill the container and multiplying, then checked against a full count.
PracticalLow riskLayer count: volume in cubic centimetres by packing
A rectangular prism packed with centimetre cubes has the same number of cubes in every layer, so its volume in cubic centimetres can be described and counted layer by layer, one layer's worth of cubes at a time.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMake a kilogram: grams and kilograms on a balance and on scales
A kilogram is 1000 grams, and a litre of water has a mass of about one kilogram, so water and a balance give a feel for both units.
PracticalLow riskOdd or even: pairing counters
An even number of counters pairs up with none left over, an odd number has one left over, and pairing shows why two odd numbers add to an even number.
Practical, model not builtLow riskOne data set, three displays: handfuls of cubes
The same data can be shown as a list, a dot plot or a column graph, and a display that keeps every value on a shared scale shows the shape and spread of the data and makes two groups easier to compare.
Practical, model not builtLow riskOne litre exactly: litres and millilitres
A litre is 1000 millilitres, and a container can be calibrated by pouring in known amounts and marking the level.
PracticalLow riskOne straight cut: splitting a trapezium into new shapes
A single straight cut splits a shape into two shapes whose kinds depend on where the cut starts and ends, and the pieces can be joined again into shapes with different features and the same area.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPerimeter with string: the distance around a shape
Perimeter is the length of the boundary of a shape, so a string laid around the edge and then measured straight gives the same length as adding the sides.
PracticalLow riskPlace-value slide: multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000
Multiplying by 10 moves every digit one place to the left and dividing by 10 moves every digit one place to the right, because each place is worth ten times the place on its right.
Practical, model not builtLow riskReading a thermometer: partial units on a scale
A scaled instrument has marks that stand for fixed steps, and a reading between two marks is estimated from how far along the gap the level sits.
PracticalLow riskReading time to the minute and timing what happens between
The minute hand moves one small mark each minute and the hour hand moves with it, so a time can be read to the minute and the time between two readings can be counted.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRenaming with base-10 materials: numbers to tens of thousands
Each place is ten times the place to its right, so a number can be traded into different combinations of thousands, hundreds, tens and ones without changing its value.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSharper or wider than a right angle: angle testers and turns
An angle is an amount of turn between two arms, and every angle can be compared with a right angle (a quarter turn) to name it acute, right, obtuse, straight or reflex.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSkeleton models: faces, edges and vertices
A prism or pyramid can be built from edges and corners alone, and counting the faces, edges and vertices of each model identifies its key features and lets different objects be compared.
PracticalLow riskSquare centimetres and a square metre: covering with a grid
Area is measured in square units of a fixed size, a square centimetre for small surfaces and a square metre for large ones, and 10 000 square centimetres fit in a square metre.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTangram: seven pieces, one square
Composite shapes are built from familiar shapes, and the seven tangram pieces are fractions of one square, so every shape made from all seven pieces has the same area as the square.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTenths and hundredths: a flat as one whole
When a flat is one whole, a rod is one tenth and a unit cube is one hundredth, so decimals name parts of a whole in the same base-10 pattern as whole numbers.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTimes tables on a circle: an algorithm that draws patterns
Following a fixed sequence of steps (multiply, keep the last digit, join that point on a ten-point circle) turns each times table into a shape, and the shape depends on the factors the multiplier shares with 10.
Practical, model not builtLow riskToss and roll: recording repeated chance experiments
Repeating a chance experiment many times gives results that vary from trial to trial, yet the counts for equally likely outcomes come out close to each other over many trials.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTrading with base-ten materials: regrouping to add and subtract
When a column holds ten or more pieces, ten are traded for one piece of the next place, and when a column holds too few to take away, one piece of the next place is traded for ten, so the value never changes while the pieces do.
Practical, model not builtLow risk24-hour time and real timetables
The 24-hour clock numbers the hours from 00 to 23 so that a time needs no am or pm, and the length of a trip on a timetable is the difference between two times, counted on to the next hour and then to the arrival time.
Practical, model not builtLow riskA half, a quarter, a fifth and a tenth of real quantities
A unit fraction of a quantity is found by dividing the quantity into that many equal parts, so 1/4 of 2 L is 500 mL and 1/5 of 1 m is 20 cm, and measuring one part checks the division.
PracticalLow riskAngles on a straight line and at a point
Angles are measured in degrees with a protractor, the angles on a straight line add to 180 degrees and the angles around a point add to 360 degrees.
Practical, model not builtLow riskArea model: multiplying on grid paper
A product such as 23 × 14 is the number of squares in a 23 by 14 rectangle, and splitting the rectangle along tens and ones shows each partial product of the written method.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBalance puzzles: finding an unknown mass
When a balance is level, both sides hold the same mass, so removing equal amounts from each side keeps it level and reveals an unknown.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBelow zero: integers on a thermometer and in a lift
Numbers below zero sit on the same line as numbers above it, so a thermometer and a lift shaft show where negative numbers are and how far apart two integers lie.
Practical, model not builtLow riskChange over time: a line graph of cooling water
A line graph shows how a quantity changes over time, and the slope of the line shows whether the change is fast or slow.
PracticalMedium riskCoin toss: more trials, less variation
The fraction of heads in a run of tosses wanders far from one half for a few tosses and settles closer to one half as the number of tosses grows.
Practical, model not builtLow riskCoordinates on the floor: the Cartesian plane in four quadrants
A point is named by its distance right or left of the origin and then up or down, so negative coordinates place points in all four quadrants.
Practical, model not builtLow riskCubic centimetres, litres and displacement
A cube 10 cm on each side holds 1000 cubic centimetres, which is one litre, and the volume of a solid object can be found from the water it pushes aside.
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.