Uncover hours of fun with this Ultimate Gemstone Dig Kit from National Geographic!
The extra-large dig brick has 20 amazing gemstones hidden inside. Your kids will love discovering them all using the included dig tool and brush and then get a close-up view of each with the magnifying glass. A full-colour learning guide provides fascinating facts about each gemstone, and easy-to-follow instructions make excavating each gemstone a whole lot of fun! Gemstones include two types of agate, three types of quartz, tiger’s eye, snowflake obsidian, amethyst, aragonite, aventurine, hematite, desert rose, a geode piece, green fluorite, pyrite, red jasper, sodalite, turquenite, blue calcite, and labradorite.
Teaching the unit ‘light’ in year 3 builds the foundations for children’s understanding of Earth and Space in year 5. Pupils are aware of their own shadows from an early age, but do they understand why shadows get bigger and smaller or change shape? Here at Whizz Pop Bang, our experienced primary teacher has written a lesson pack containing a shadow investigation. Pupils will work in small groups and observe, measure, and record the length and width of a shadow.
Shadow Investigation
“The children had great fun taking part in the shadows lesson. They were immersed in the activity not only developing their scientific knowledge but using mathematical skills and working co-operatively in a group” Natalie Walters – Year 3 teacher
The lesson pack contains:
A lesson plan linked to the national curriculum
A PowerPoint presentation
Instructions
Differentiated results table
Great news! You don’t need any specialised equipment, apart from torches (these should be in your science cupboard already!)
Shadow Investigation lesson pack
Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:
We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.
We make cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and PSHE.
Prices from as little as £190 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins
We’ve also just launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
Very few mammals can imitate speech, but scientists in the Netherlands have found that baby seals just a few weeks old can change the pitch of their voices to make themselves heard above other noises. This suggests that seals may be the best species to help us understand the mystery of speech.
Recently, researchers at St Andrew’s University taught a seal to sing the Star Wars theme song!
Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.
Are you looking for inspiring planning resources for teaching the Stone Age in lower key stage 2? Here’s how you can use our new downloadable Stone Age teaching resources to easily create a memorable lesson that produce the sticky knowledge that Ofsted will be looking for…
Where to start?
Before you use our lesson pack, pupils should already know when the Stone Age period was, what a fossil is and be familiar with the job of an archaeologist.
Pupils will get to do the job of an archaeologist during the lesson by excavating their own fake Stone Age poo! This is definitely a lesson your class will not forget! Before the lesson, follow our recipe to make enough fake poos for each child in your class.
Before they are ready to be an archaeologist, pupils will need to know what Stone Age people ate and how scientists know this information – from excavating coprolites (fossilised poo!). The PowerPoint presentation included in the pack explains this in a child-friendly way.
Pupils won’t forget the types of food they pulled out from their fake Stone Age poo! It’s a great way to create sticky knowledge for both History and Science.
We have a whole issue dedicated to the Stone Age, which is full of fun facts and information suitable for primary-aged children. Our teachers have created three reading comprehensions with questions linked to the National Curriculum and Curriculum for Excellence:
A non-chronological report on Smilodon
Explanation text about Stonehenge
Interview with an archaeologist
We also have a bank of spectacular science images that are perfect for promoting discussion. They feature a striking scientific image, along with a couple of questions. As you click through the PowerPoint presentation, the answers to the questions will be revealed. Pupils should try to answer the questions as you go. The presentation to use for Stone Age is called ‘High Five’. It only takes ten minutes so it can slot into those awkward times in the school day; for example, straight after lunch while you are waiting for everyone to come in.
Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:
We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.
We make cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and PSHE.
Prices from as little as £190 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.
We’ve also just launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
Explore glow-in-the-dark science with PUTTY, SLIME, CRYSTALS AND MORE!
The days are getting shorter and the nights are drawing in but fear not, this fun STEM kit from Bandai is sure to brighten any dark evening! Inquisitive minds will love discovering the world of glow-in-the-dark by making glowing slime and growing their own crystals! We’ve got THREE Glow-in-the-Dark Mega Science Kits to give away!
The National Geographic Glow-in-the-Dark Mega Science Kit is an astounding collection of experiments and activities that all glow when the lights are out! Inside the kit, you’ll find a crystal growing set that produces a glow-in-the-dark crystal specimen you can proudly display.
There are two DIY slime packs in this kit as well, allowing you to mix and play with your own glow-in-the-dark purple and green slime! And glow-in-the-dark putty will astound kids as they use the included UV light keychain to draw pictures and words that glow when the lights are off!
There is so much included in this Mega Kit: one glowing crystal seed, two DIY slime powders in glowing green and glowing purple, two slime containers, one glowing putty in a storage tin, one wernerite rock, one UV light, and a full-colour learning guide that takes you through each experiment step by step.
No one knows exactly when humans began using fire, but it was probably over a million years ago. At first, people probably used natural wildfires. Later, they learned to start their own fires by hitting rocks together to make sparks, or by rubbing dry sticks until they got hot enough to burn.
See for yourself how Stone Age people started fires!
To celebrate Black History Month and Mae Jemison’s birthday on 17th October, we’re giving away a free sample page from Whizz Pop Bang magazine – a feature all about engineer, doctor, astronaut, dancer and scientist, Dr Mae Jemison.
And that’s not all… if you’re looking for primary science teaching resources or reading comprehensions, you’re in luck. Keep scrolling to find a heap of resources linked to this biography text!
Find out more about this teaching resource that’s perfect to use during Black History Month:
A biography text for year 3 and P4, linking to the topics animals including humans and body systems and cells, on the remarkable scientist Mae Jemison. Mae Jemison trained to be a dancer, engineer, scientist and astronaut! Mae also spends lots of time teaching and encouraging young people to become scientists, no matter what their background. She wants us all to reach for the stars, and she is still doing this herself by leading a project to develop the science and engineering needed to travel to a different solar system in the next 100 years. Mae doesn’t want anyone to be left out.
Year groups: Year 3 and P4 Topics: Animals including humans
This downloadable reading pack includes:
An A3 reading spread for you to print.
Reading comprehension question and answer sheets, differentiated using our magnifying glasses key (on the bottom right). One magnifying glass indicates easier and two means harder.
Our award-winning resources… 🧪Are compiled by expert teachers and scientists 🧪 Bring science to life in your child’s classroom 🧪 Are easy to download 🧪 Make planning science lessons simple 🧪 Link to the National Curriculum for England and the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence for primary schools
Our award-winning downloadable resources make it easy for teachers to teach inspirational science to primary school children. We have a huge library of over 300 curriculum-linked science and reading resources, including hands-on science lesson plans, stimulating science reading comprehensions and science vocabulary posters.
Your school can download FREE sample resource packs via our website, and claim a FREE copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine, too! Simply click ‘Sign up for FREE resources‘ on our schools page…
Teachers say…
The lesson plans from Whizz Pop Bang are fantastic – exactly what teachers want! Written by teachers, for teachers, they are clearly laid out and concisely written so you can pick them up and use them straight away.” Paul Tyler, Primary Science Lead, Glasgow
“The resources and magazines are linked to the science curriculum and support cross-subject learning. Plus they’re bursting with awesome experiments that my less confident colleagues can teach with ease!” Kay Wilkie, Shawridge Primary School
Our award-winning downloadable resources make it easy for teachers to teach inspirational science to primary school children. We have a huge library of over 300 curriculum-linked science and reading resources, including hands-on science lesson plans, stimulating science reading comprehensions and science vocabulary posters.
We’d love it if you could help us to spread the love of science into more primary schools – simply tell your child’s teacher, school or PTA about Whizz Pop Bang’s award-winning, time-saving school resources.
Our award-winning resources… 🧪Are compiled by expert teachers and scientists 🧪 Bring science to life in your child’s classroom 🧪 Are easy to download 🧪 Make planning science lessons simple 🧪 Link to the National Curriculum for England and the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence for primary schools
Claim FREE samples for your school
Your school can download FREE sample resource packs via our website, and claim a FREE copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine, too! Simply click ‘Sign up for FREE resources‘ on our schools page…
The lesson plans from Whizz Pop Bang are fantastic – exactly what teachers want! Written by teachers, for teachers, they are clearly laid out and concisely written so you can pick them up and use them straight away.” Paul Tyler, Primary Science Lead, Glasgow
“The resources and magazines are linked to the science curriculum and support cross-subject learning. Plus they’re bursting with awesome experiments that my less confident colleagues can teach with ease!” Kay Wilkie, Shawridge Primary School
Often, in KS1 teachers will focus on the most obvious plants, such as flowers and vegetables. In year 1, pupils will have been taught to name some trees and identify which ones are deciduous and which are evergreen. Trees are talked about as a living thing and will also be covered when teaching seasons. It is good practice to revisit learning, so as part of our lesson pack we have included a pocket tree guide. It will help pupils identify the common trees they might find on a walk in their local area. (For more trees, the free app called SEEK is brilliant.)
The pocket tree guide included in the lesson pack
Once pupils have identified different types of trees and recapped their learning from year 1, they should then start to learn about seed formation and dispersal. It’s important that pupils understand that all trees flower before they produce seeds. As part of the lesson pack, the PowerPoint presentation includes photographs of common tress, showing what their flowers look like and the seeds they produce.
Investigate seeds with wings
The lesson gets pupils to investigate why some tree seeds have wings. They will take real seeds and test how far they go with and without wings. This will lead to a discussion about why trees need their seeds to travel away from the tree to grow. Your next lesson could be looking at different types of seeds and comparing them. You could ask the question ‘does the biggest seed produce the biggest plant?’ You could even dissect a seed!
Speedy seeds complete lesson pack
How to make your science teaching cross curricular
Every month, alongside the magazine we add reading comprehensions for different year groups to our downloadable resources. This allows you to sneak some extra science content into your reading sessions. This month, for year 3 we have a non-chronological report on some super tree dwellers – orangutans.
A non-chronological report on orangutans
We have added 4 more reading comprehensions for other year groups, as it’s good for them to revisit previous learning.
Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant for enhancing your school’s science teaching:
We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.
We make cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and PSHE.
Prices from as little as £190 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.
We’ve also just launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
Astronaut Tim Peake travelled to the International Space Station in 2015 and spent 186 days orbiting the Earth and has shared some tales from this epic adventure with Whizz Pop Bang magazine in this brilliant blog post: Tim Peake spills the beans on life in space!
He’s also just published his first children’s book, along with bestselling author Steve Cole, based on space-age science and technology: Swarm Rising. We’ve got SIX COPIES to give away!
When Danny is kidnapped by Adi – who can run through brick walls and make cars drive on water – he realises that all humans are in danger. Adi is part of a super-advanced hive mind, the Swarm, which intends to protect the Earth from the environmental catastrophe caused by the human race.
Adi – Alien Digital Intelligence in the form of a girl – can bend the laws of physics and control digital data, but as a digital being she wants to know what it’s like to be human. Which is where Danny comes in.
But what exactly is the ‘help’ the secretive Swarm is offering? Can Danny and his friend Jamila help Adi stop the Swarm Agents and give humanity a second chance?
