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.


To browse the resources, click the buttons below or scroll down.
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SuperStar Home Learning

  • Text
  • Superstar
  • Rafts
  • Rocket
  • Shapes
  • Registered
  • Raft
  • Glue
  • Rockets
  • Association
  • Spinners
  • Yoghurt
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/).

Fossil Folly Activity

Fossil Folly Activity Card A box of bones has been delivered to Dina Digg at the Dinosaur Museum and she has tried to put them together, but she’s not sure she’s got it right. No one has ever seen a living, moving dinosaur, but lots of dinosaurs’ bones have been found. Putting them together is not always an easy job. There have been plenty of dinosaur debates about the right way to assemble a skeleton. Your challenge Can you help Dina Digg to figure out how to put the dinosaur bones together? Is it a new dinosaur, unlike any ever found before? Has she got it wrong? Discuss Do you have a favourite dinosaur? What did they look like? A few other investigators have had some ideas: I like the ostrich dinosaurs like Gallimimus. Their long legs helped them to run very fast. My favourite is the 26m long, plant-eating Diplodocus. It was built like a suspension bridge – with a very long neck and tail. Stegosaurus rules! It was a medium sized dinosaur with a solid body and short legs. It had tail spikes and defensive plates on its back. My vote goes to the agile Velociraptor. A small but deadly carnivore! It ran on two legs and had a long stiff tail that acted as a counterbalance. Iguanodon’s the one for me. It had a small head but a bulky body and a stiff tail. This meant it could stand on its back legs as well as walking on all four feet.

Getting started Make model dinosaurs to find out which combinations of body shapes are: • Most stable on two legs • Most stable on four legs • Best for reaching high leaves Which combinations work and which ones do not? Scientists compare fossil bones with the skeletons of living creatures to work out how to fit them together. Do the shapes that you made remind you of any living or extinct animals? Test your ideas Make a table to show which shapes work well together. Can you explain why? Body shape Stable on two legs Stable on four legs Good for reaching high leaves Now decide whether the dinosaur put together at the Dinosaur Museum is definitely a dinosaur or a dinosaur disaster! Share your ideas You could design a poster for Dina Digg at the Dinosaur Museum. You could include: • Drawings or photos of your dinosaurs and your ideas about why they were successful or not • Pictures of different dinosaurs that match the shapes that you have made • Explanations of why some dinosaur shapes helped them to survive. 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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