Low-resource or low equipment sharing resources


The resources on this page have been selected to support educators in finding CREST project ideas that require little equipment, can be run outside of a lab or at home, and use equipment that doesn’t require much sharing.

Find out more about the different CREST Award levels here: CREST Awards.

At primary level, our curated home learning packs don’t require many resources so they’re perfect to use either in the classroom or at home. For Primary teachers who have CLEAPSS access, we recommend this piece on doing Practical activities within your bubble.

At secondary level, each project brief has an overall challenge, ideas for getting started and a list of resources you might need. Read the health and safety section carefully before you begin. Young people should create a plan for their project and a risk assessment before they begin any practical activity. You can use the CLEAPSS student safety sheets as well as the rest of the CLEAPSS website to help them.

If you are looking for further advice on how to get started with CREST, visit our help centre and check out our FAQs.

If you are looking for ideas for running CREST at home, many of the below resources are suitable, and you can still access our Star and SuperStar Home Learning packs below. If you need further support, check out the CREST at home section of the Help Centre.


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Star Home Learning

  • Text
  • Challenges
  • Encourage
  • Hankie
  • Materials
  • Stella
  • Registered
  • Pegs
  • Cans
  • Association
  • Bubbles
  • Cosmic
This resource is published under an Attribution - non-commercial - no derivatives 4.0 International creative commons licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Uncle Astro Cosmic Gem

Uncle Astro Cosmic Gem Confusing Cans Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about weights, ramps and investigation. Gem and Cosmic want baked beans for lunch but Uncle Astro’s cans don’t have any labels! Gem thinks that they can roll the cans to find out what is inside them. Through this activity you will support children to: • Think about how to find out what is inside a can without opening it • Conduct an experiment to find out what is inside various cans • Record and present their results. Kit list • A can of tinned tomatoes, soup, baked beans, cat food for each group, labels removed and marked with different numbers or colours • A set of cans with labels for comparison • Boards/trays to make the slopes plus blocks/ books to support it • Metre rulers, tape measures and other distance markers • Can opener What to do 1. Introduce the activity using the story. 2. Give out activity cards and equipment to the children. 3. Explain that they will be exploring how to find out what is inside the tins without opening them. 4. Encourage children to discuss their ideas and how to carry out their investigations. Discuss how they might make the cans roll. Can they make it a fair test e.g. using the same slope or letting go of the cans rather than pushing them from the top etc. 5. Support children to conduct their investigation and make their own records of their results. Let them explore the unlabelled cans first. Then roll the labelled cans to make a comparison. Ask them to use their observations to predict which of their cans contains the beans. Talk about the distance each can rolled and what is inside it. Can they see a pattern? Let the children try rolling other things to see if they fit the pattern. You could open the chosen cans. 6. Ask the children to present their findings to the rest of the group, they can be as creative in their presentation as they want.

Things to think about Let children decide how to measure the distance each can has rolled. They might make accurate measurements or put down markers to compare distances. What is inside the can will affect how far it will roll. Normally, the more solid the food, the further the can rolls. Children might shake the cans to ‘listen’ to what is inside. The ones that they can ‘hear’ tend not to roll as far as the ones they cannot hear. It is useful to have other labelled cans of food available for children to roll to see if they fit the pattern. They can compare their ideas. You might open some cans. If they have chosen beans they may wish to heat and eat them. If they have chosen cat food, they won’t! Take it further You can fill plastic bottles with water, freeze them (without the top) then see if there is a difference in how they roll as the water thaws (don’t forget to put the top back on!). Children can fill containers (large coffee tins or jars with lids are ideal) with different things e.g. sand (different amounts), syrup or cotton wool and see what happens. Keywords • Measuring • Testing • Distance • Acceleration • Weight • Density • Volume Watch out! Remind children not to leave cans lying on the floor for people to trip over. Use a safety can opener. Push the can lid well inside open cans and dispose of safely after use. Opening cans and heating food should be done by adults. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236

Challenges for ages 5-11


These challenges take about an hour each. Once you have completed eight of them you can get a CREST SuperStar Award. Start by downloading the Passport. Children can use this to record each activity they complete.

Our curated packs for home learning require very little equipment or resources, so are ideal now that you are back in the classroom. They also add flexibility as students can finish their Star or SuperStar Award at home, if needed.

Each challenge has an organiser card and an activity card. All the instructions to set up the activity are in the organiser card. Read the 'watch out' section carefully before you begin. Children can use the activity card or you can read it through together.

Find out more about Star and SuperStar levels here.


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Projects for ages 11-18


Each of these projects take between ten and thirty hours to complete. The project briefs have an overall challenge, ideas for getting started and a list of resources students might need. Before they begin, students should read the health and safety section carefully. Once students have completed their projects, they can get a CREST Discovery, Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. The amount of time spent on the project and how well they met the CREST criteria determines the level students will be awarded.

Start by downloading the relevant Workbook or Profile Form below. Young people can use these to help them complete their project and record their progress.

Young people should create a plan for their project and a risk assessment before they begin any practical activity, which should be checked by a teacher. You can use the CLEAPSS student safety sheets as well as the rest of the CLEAPSS website to help them.

For Bronze projects, once a student has completed their project, you can sign up to assess it and order their personalised certificate here. Bronze assessment is incredibly easy and can also be adapted for at-home learning if needed due to unexpected lockdowns, meaning parents can always assess when teachers cannot. Check out how to assess a Bronze project here

For Silver and Gold projects student work will need to be submitted online and will be assessed by a CREST assessor. Learn more about assessment for Silver Awards here

Find out more about Bronze level here.

Find out more about Silver level here.

Find out more about Gold level here.


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