Whizz Pop Bang is the world’s most awesomely amazing kids’ science magazine, bursting with hands-on experiments, facts and fun! Every magazine is packed full of hands on science activities to help your kids fall in love with science. Here is a FREE science activity to help you entertain, excite and educate your child.
Learn the order of the planets by making a model solar system. Just download, print, add scissors and glue, and your astronauts-in-training will do the rest. It’s out of this world!
Our experiments are designed for children from 6 to 12, but this experiment is particularly perfect for year 5, P6 (Scotland) and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds as it ties in with the National Curriculum topic about the solar system they will be taught this during this school year.
Did your mini-scientist enjoy this activity? This is just one of the many fun paper craft activities from the Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book. Click the image below to discover how much more fun your budding scientist can have with this book!
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.
It is nearly that time of year again, where a term is ending and a new one is approaching. It is time to start thinking about next term’s science planning. We have some brilliant lesson plans that will save you time on planning. They are easy to resource, as we only use items that are inexpensive or that we know you will have in school or can source easily.
I have a scheme to follow, how will these fit into my progression of lessons?
With every new issue of Whizz Pop Bang, we produce lesson packs that are linked to the Science National Curriculum. These are not meant to be one-off lessons; they will fit into your sequence of learning. Each lesson plan states what the children should already know before starting the lesson, as well as a ‘future learning’ box at the end, helping you to slide it into your medium-term plan at the right point.
Our aim is to help teachers teach memorable science lessons that add value to pupils’ learning. Our lesson packs include everything downloadable you will need to teach the lesson, saving you time preparing PowerPoints or creating worksheets. We try to keep worksheets to a minimum; our lessons are practical or games.
“Using Whizz Pop Bang school resources has enabled investigations to be an integral part of my science planning. I now have investigations and experiments throughout my planning, rather than just at the end. The lessons are easy to resource, and the pack has everything I need to teach the lesson, so it saves me time as well!”
Louise Hampson, Year 3 teacher
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.
Prices from as little as £197.99 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 have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
We want to inspire the future generation of scientists with our monthly magazine! That’s why, every month we interview inspirational scientists about their jobs so children across the globe can learn about fascinating areas of science and what it takes to do these jobs.
We interviewed astronaut Tim Peake and wanted to share it here for free so that everyone can be inspired by Tim’s story. This pack also includes a reading comprehension question and answer sheet for schools and home educators to teach kids.
Interview with astronaut Tim Peake reading comprehension
This interview delves into what it is really like to travel in space. Tim Peake describes what it feels like to take off in a rocket and to feel weightless, as well as his scariest moments. A must-read for your aspiring astronauts.
This downloadable reading pack includes: – An interview with Tim Peake for you to print or for your child to read on a tablet. – Reading comprehension question sheet and answer sheet.
Our teaching resources are designed for children from 6 to 12, but this reading comprehension is particularly perfect for year 5, P6 (Scotland) and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds as it ties in with the National Curriculum topic about earth and space they will be taught this during this school year.
Did your mini-scientist enjoy learning about Tim Peake? Why not discover our other space themed issues of Whizz Pop Bang in our shop here! Or click on one of the magazines below for some of our favourite space issues!
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 some help and ideas for teaching animal adaptations in year 6? Here is how to use our downloadable teaching resources in your unit of work on evolution and inheritance.
When planning a unit of work on evolution and inheritance it can be quite difficult to think of relevant practical investigations for your pupils to do. This unit involves a lot of research, looking at how animals and plants have changed over time. It is important to first revisit their understanding of fossils from year 3 and then build on that knowledge. Take a look at how characteristics are inherited, starting with themselves and their family; how do they look similar? You can then start to look simply at genes. Our resources include a great game where pupils look at how genes are passed on to puppies.
Dog breeder lesson pack
Teaching adaptations should come towards the end of the unit. In our lesson pack, pupils will plan a simple investigation around animal paws and how they can access food to survive. They will carry out a simple investigation and record their results. They will then draw on their knowledge about habitats and animal survival to decide if the species would evolve or eventually become extinct.
Animal adaptations lesson pack
Getting children to do some research and read trustworthy sources of information is important. We have created a lesson pack from our ‘Prehistoric Monsters Of The Deep’ issue, which contains several texts for them to use to locate information. Pupils will look for similarities and differences between megalodons and sharks that are alive today.
More science reading links…
There are four reading resources for year 6 that link to the topic and will spark your pupils’ curiosity.
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 £254.99 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. <add in link>
We’ve also launched a newindividual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. <add in link>
Teaching the unit ‘light’ in year 6 builds on the foundations they will have learnt in year 3, and also in year 5 when they covered ‘Earth and Space’. Pupils should already know how shadows are formed and that light is reflected from surfaces, as well as that we have night and day due to the Earth’s rotation. In year 6 you should be able to build on this, but in your first lesson it is a good idea to revisit and secure their understanding to avoid gaps in knowledge before you move on.
Our ‘constellation torch’ lesson is a great way to start your topic. At the beginning of the lesson, elicit the pupils’ understanding by asking them to name different light sources and tell you how shadows are formed. Creating a simple brainstorm mind map in their book with the word ‘light’ in the middle is all that is needed. Give the children ten minutes to complete it and then start your lesson, discussing their ideas or addressing misconceptions. At the end of the topic, get them to use a different-coloured pen and add what they have learnt to their mind map; it is a brilliant and easy assessment.
In this lesson pack, pupils will play around with making star constellations by using simple printable templates, cardboard tubes and single-bulb torches. They will consider how light travels. They will then draw a simple diagram to show that light travels in straight lines, that light will travel through the holes in the paper, and that it is reflected from a surface into the eye.
As part of your sequence of lessons, include our activity of making a periscope. It is a great way for pupils to build on their understanding that light travels in straight lines and is reflected into the eye. Our lesson pack includes simple instructions and a scientific explanation for teachers – we know how hard it is to remember everything, so we always explain the science behind every lesson. There are also some ten-minute science activities around the topic of light, which are great for creating science discussions in your classroom.
Our ‘Starry Skies’ edition of Whizz Pop Bang delves into the wonders of the universe, which children are enthralled by and often have loads of questions about! Our resources include several reading comprehensions linking to the topic of light.
Using quality science text in your reading time helps to squeeze a little bit of extra science into the day!
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.
Prices from as little as £197.99 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 launched a newindividual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
As part of the ‘animals including humans’ topic in science, you are required to teach the impact of drugs on the body. It is important to teach children about the dangers of drugs but also about how amazing medicine can be. In our ‘Marvellous Medicine’ edition of Whizz Pop Bang, we look at common illnesses and find out how medicines can help to treat them.
The medical world has made so many amazing discoveries and introduced drugs and vaccinations that have saved millions of lives. As out interviewee Dr Chris van Tulleken states in this month’s issue; “Vaccinations have saved more lives than any other invention in human history!”
How many pupils in your class have asthma? Do they understand how their inhaler works? Or why they should use their spacer? Our ‘How Stuff Works’ page explains in detail how these helpful devices work.
Allergies and asthma can affect your lungs so you can’t breathe in as much air as normal. In this lesson pack for year 6, pupils will test their lungs to see how much air they can breathe in and out. As well as linking with the topic ‘animals including humans’, it also covers an enquiry type; pattern seeking. The experiment is simple, it involves blowing up a balloon and measuring the circumference. They will choose what other information they need to collect and who they will ask to blow up the balloon.
Vaccinations have been a hot topic of conversation for many in the last couple of years. Edward Jenner was the first scientist to create a vaccination. In this reading comprehension, your pupils will discover the unconventional methods he used!
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.
Prices from as little as £197.99 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 launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources forjust £20 for the whole year.
Are you wondering what knowledge organisers are and how to use them? The purpose of a knowledge organiser is to collate all the information and vocabulary a pupil needs to know for a unit of work in one A4 sheet. However, these are not meant to be given to pupils to learn, they should be a guide for both pupils and teachers to use. For teachers they are useful when it comes to planning, to make sure they cover the correct content. For pupils they should serve as a reference. They should not give all the answers, but should provide support with vocabulary and knowledge – they are not for acquiring knowledge, but for securing it.
As a science co-ordinator, giving staff a good set of knowledge organisers that have been written to the curriculum and ensure progression between year groups is invaluable. In particular, when Ofsted questions you during a deep dive, they are a good source of evidence.
Whizz Pop Bang’s knowledge organisers, for years 2 to 6, have been written by a teacher with all of the above in mind. They have been carefully crafted to the curriculum, making sure there is a progression in both knowledge and vocabulary. We have included an A3 vocabulary poster for teachers to share in displays or working walls for pupils to refer to.
The A4 knowledge organiser has the same vocabulary on the front but without a colourful background, plus definitions of the vocabulary and any information which is key to the topic. All of this is displayed in a child-friendly way.
“These are really helpful – the pictures are good clues for the children to help jog their memories about the words, and having both a bright version for displays and a printer-friendly version for copies, is a great idea!” Maria Bennett, class teacher
How much does it cost to gain access to all of the Whizz Pop Bang resources?
Prices start from as little as £197.99 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 have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year.
This year’s theme is growth, which you can take in lots of different directions. We have two FREE activities based on plants which are suitable for all year groups.
Why not investigate different life cycles? There are lots of weird and wonderful examples out there! Our lesson pack on life cycles involves pupils making their own 3D model of a life cycle.
To help to keep science going all week, we have several reading comprehensions linked to the theme of growth, including non-chronological reports and historical scientists.
Historical scientist Maria Sibylla Merian
Non-chronological report on nile crocodiles
Non-chronological report on narwhals
Don’t forget to take photographs so you can make a display or share them on your school’s social media platforms. We would love to see what you have been doing too, so please tag us @whizzpopbangmag
Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your 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, Design and Technology and PSHE.
We have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing resources for just £20 for the whole year.
If your school is not a subscriber already, we have an amazing offer of a 20% discount until 31st March 2022. Just apply the code SCIWEEK22 at the checkout to receive the discount. (Only available on whole-school subscriptions to the magazines and resources.)
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.
This year’s theme is growth, which you can take in lots of different directions. We have two FREE activities based on plants which are suitable for all year groups.
All animals need to eat to grow. In this pack, pupils will discover that a coral reef is in fact both living and dead. They will make their own edible polyp and learn the importance of the coral polyp in the reef ecosystem.
To help to keep science going all week, we have several reading comprehensions linked to the theme of growth, including interviews, explanation texts and historical scientists.
Interview with a coral biologist
Explanation text on scuba diving
Ocean explorer Sylvia Earle
Don’t forget to take photographs so you can make a display or share them on your school’s social media platforms. We would love to see what you have been doing too, so please tag us @whizzpopbangmag
Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your 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, Design and Technology and PSHE.
We have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing resources for just £20 for the whole year.
If your school is not a subscriber, we have an amazing offer of a 20% discount until 31st March 2022. Just apply the code SCIWEEK22 at the checkout to receive the discount. (Only available on whole-school subscriptions to the magazines and resources.)
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 used the bottle blower investigation to discover how pitch changes. The children loved it and the resources were clear and colourful. The class were fascinated with the reading comprehension on a foley artist as they didn’t know what they did. Great to have the resource differentiated.” Year 4 primary school teacher
Are you looking for planning resources for teaching the water cycle in year 4? Here’s how you can use our new downloadable teaching resources to easily create memorable lessons that produce the sticky knowledge Ofsted will be looking for…
Where to start?
Evaporation is part of the water cycle and it’s important pupils understand what it is before they learn about the water cycle. We have a lesson pack called ‘Evaporation investigation’ which allows pupils to observe what happens to water over a period. All our lesson packs come with a differentiated lesson plan linked to the curriculum and a PowerPoint to help run the lesson.
Our lesson plans often include boxes titled ‘previous learning’ and ‘future learning’; this is to help you understand where the lesson would fit in your medium-term plan. Sometimes we suggest another lesson pack and that is what we have done here. Once pupils understand evaporation, you are ready to teach the water cycle. In this lesson, pupils will make their mini water cycle using items which are easy to resource and inexpensive.
Why make a mini water cycle, rather than asking children to create a labelled diagram? All pupils learn differently, and to create sticky knowledge children need memorable experiences. The visual and kinaesthetic learners are more likely to remember making a mini water cycle than filling in a worksheet.
How to evidence the lesson
If your planning isn’t enough evidence, pupils could use the Keynote app on an iPad and record themselves describing their water cycle and each stage. If you need evidence for their books, you could print a photo of their mini water cycle and during morning work the next day, pupils could label and annotate it. This would mean that they go back over their learning from the day before, helping the knowledge to stick. Using knowledge organisers can be an additional tool that helps remind children of previous learning or to use as a scaffold – not for answers!
How to make the water cycle cross curricular
There are also lots of ways to embed the pupils’ science learning in your school day. Using science texts in guided reading or whole class reading sessions is an easy way for children to delve further into the subject matter and acquire more knowledge. We have two reading comprehension packs for year 4 linking to weather:
Interview with a meteorologist
Sensational meteorologist Joanne Simpson
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 the water cycle is called ‘Hurricane Florence’. 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.
Satellite view. Hurricane Florence over the Atlantics close to the US coast .
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.
