In Science, Year Two have been learning all about materials. They have explored their properties and why this makes them suitable for a particular purpose.
To begin, the children explained that a material is what something is made from. They named as many as they could, including wood, plastic, glass and metal. Then, they identified the properties of each material – what it is like. The boys and girls used some fantastic vocabulary to describe each material, including whether it was transparent or opaque, flexible or rigid, and absorbent or waterproof. Year Two identified that sometimes a material can have multiple properties. For example, plastic can be rigid and flexible.
Next, the children explored why certain materials are used to make a particular thing. They learned that towels are made from fabric, because it absorbent, and window panes are made from glass, because it is transparent. The children identified that sometimes the same object can be made from a range of materials, such as spoon. The boys and girls were able to explain that a wooden spoon is suitable for baking as it hard and strong, whereas, a plastic spoon is suitable for a small child as it is more gentle than metal.
Finally, the children conducted an experiment to investigate whether they could change the shape of an object by twisting, pulling, squashing or stretching it. All of the objects were made from a range of materials including metal, plastic and fabric. The children concluded that some objects could change shape in multiple ways (elastic band) whereas others couldn’t be changed at all (metal coin).
