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.
Sniffly Sneezes Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about the strength and absorbency of materials. SNIFFLY SNEEZE Achoo!! Gem has a cold and her hankie isn’t working very well. Can you help her find a better one? Through this activity you will support your group to: • Think about what makes a good hankie • Test different materials and observe how they behave when used to absorb water • Record their results and share them with the group. Kit list SNIFFLY SNEEZE • A selection of different materials that could be used as hankies e.g. tissue paper, cotton, newspaper, crepe paper, cotton wool, paper (different makes), tissues, greaseproof paper • Plastic trays • Water and food colourings • Plastic pipettes What to do 1. Follow the structure on the ACTIVITY CARD. Make sure that you give children time to talk about their ideas. 2. Read the story. Get the children to talk to a buddy about the questions and the opinions of Gem, Cosmic and Aunt Stella. 3. Then give the children a set of materials to test as hankies. Let them talk about which they think might be best and how they will find out, before they start investigating 4. You could list the different tests they might want to do e.g. absorbency, strength or smoothness. Make sure that they test all the different materials. Encourage them to use their own ideas too. 5. When they have finished, choose the best materials talk about why these were the best hankies. You might get them to think why we have disposable tissues. 6.There are follow up activities for children who want to do more finding out and earn a bonus sticker. To present their work the children could: Make a collage, using bits from the different hankies. Produce a poster, using smiley faces and sad faces to indicate how good the hankies are.
SNIFFLY SNEEZE Things to think about Encourage children to think of all aspects of what makes a good hankie. Get them to think carefully about the amount of water used in the absorbency test. You may need to cut up cotton hankies to get sensible sized pieces, so buy cheap ones from a market or make your own from a large piece of cloth. There is no easy way to measure for roughness. The children can estimate how the hankies feel, perhaps using a simple 3-point scale e.g. smooth, rough and in-between. Take it further The hankie’s absorbency depends on a number of factors, including the thickness of the fibres and size of the spaces between them. The hankie’s strength is important. Cheap tissues can be absorbent but they may fall apart easily when wet. How rough the hankie feels is essential, especially when you have a cold. Some tissues have added lubricants, such as Aloe Vera, so that they feel softer. Greaseproof paper feels smooth but is not very absorbent. Disposable tissues are more hygienic. Germs can multiply quite rapidly in a hankie that is kept in a warm pocket. If you use a hankie over the course of a day then it can get pretty unpleasant and unhygienic. However, disposable tissues might be wasteful. This is a good opportunity to remind children to wash their hands regularly if they have a cold. SNIFFLY SNEEZE Keywords • Germs • Absorbency • Strength • Durability Watch out! Test hankies on hands, not noses and make sure to wash hands regularly. Remind children not to share hankies. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236
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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.
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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