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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4 years ago

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/).

GEM COSMIC Brilliant

GEM COSMIC Brilliant Bubbles Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about liquids, gases and bubbles. Cosmic has a new bubble machine. All the bubbles are the same. He would like different bubbles. Through this activity you will support children to: • Carry out their own tests to try and make different shaped bubbles • Carry out their own tests to try and make different sized bubbles • Carry out their own tests to try and make different colour bubbles Kit list • Plastic trays or bowls • Clean drinking straws – 1 per child • Bubble wands • Soft wire (e.g. florist’s wire or pipe cleaners) to bend into different shape frames such as a triangle or square • Bubble mixture • Food colouring What to do 1. Introduce the activity using the story. Ask the children if they have blown bubbles before, were they all the same? 2. Give out activity cards and equipment to the children. 3. Explain that they will be using the equipment provided to test if they can make different shape, size and colour bubbles. 5. Support children to conduct their tests and make their own records of their results. They could also take photographs or make drawings. 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 - the activity card suggests a bubble competition. 4. Encourage children to discuss their ideas and how to carry out their investigations. Prompt questions: • How will they make sure their test is fair? • How will they record their results?

Things to think about Children will get better bubbles if they blow slowly and gently through a straw. They will usually get bigger bubbles from a wand or a wire frame. A bubble is a pocket of air, surrounded by a very thin film of liquid. Water acts as though it has a stretchy skin. It is this that helps to make a round bubble shape. Scientists call this surface tension. The colour of bubbles is due to the light reflecting off the bubble surface and creating what scientists call interference patterns. The pattern and colour changes according to the direction of the light and the thickness of the bubble’s ‘skin’. Keywords • Bubbles • Surfaces • Gases Watch out! Children will create a lot of mess with their bubbles, so be prepared for this. You can colour the mixture with food colouring, but when the bubbles burst the children get sprayed with drops of food colouring, so this is VERY messy. 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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