Primary challenges (ages 3-11)


Typically completed by 3-11 year olds, CREST Star and SuperStar challenges relate to everyday experiences. Children complete eight activities to gain a CREST Award, with each activity taking between 45 minutes and one hour to complete.

The activities are designed to be easy-to-run and low-cost. You don’t need to be a teacher, have a science background or have access to specialist equipment to run them. The packs contain helpful hints and tips for you to use, explaining the scientific themes and offering guidance on conversation topics for your children.

There are more CREST approved resources that have been developed by our partners and providers specific to your region.


To browse the packs, click the buttons below or scroll down.

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All Star challenges

  • Text
  • Cosmic
  • Materials
  • Association
  • Registered
  • Stella
  • Plants
  • Encourage
  • Astro
  • Timers
  • Rainbow

Speed Scooters

Speed Scooters Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get children thinking about surfaces and friction. Gem and Cosmic are having a race on their scooters. Gem is riding her scooter on the path and Cosmic is riding his on the grass. Gem wins the race. Cosmic wonders why. Through this activity you will support your group to: • Think about what makes scooters go faster or slower • Test how hard it is to scoot on different surfaces and the effects of pushing harder • Record their results and share them with the group Kit list SPEEDY SCOOTERS • Scooters and protective equipment (children can bring these from home) • Different outside surfaces (e.g. grass, concrete, gravel, sand) • Measuring equipment What to do 1. Follow the instructions on the ACTIVITY CARD. Make sure you give the children time to talk about their ideas. 2. Read the story. Get the children to talk together about the questions and the opinions of Gem, Cosmic and Aunt Stella. 3. Give the children time to talk about how to investigate why Gem won the race. Let them try out their own ideas if possible. 4. They may need help to identify the different surfaces they can use. 5. Children can make decisions based on how it feels to ride on different surfaces, if measuring is difficult. 6. They can test how far they can travel with one push. They may need support to decide how to make each push the same and make the tests fair. 7. They can also investigate what happens if they change how hard they push. 8. Help the children to record their results in a table or chart. 9. Give children time to discuss the results. What have they discovered? 10. There are follow up activities for children who have finished or who want to do more finding out at home and earn a bonus sticker. Not everyone needs a scooter. This investigation can also be carried out using toys or simple model scooters made by the children. To display what they have investigated, children can use a winners’ podium for the three best surfaces. They can create a bar chart or draw a labelled picture.

Things to think about With a single push, the same scooter will normally go furthest on smoother surfaces. Rough ground will reduce the distance a scooter travels with one push. Children may not be used to gliding on their scooters. Give them time to practice doing a single push and then balancing while the scooter glides along. Take it further DY SCOOTERS Scooters with bigger wheels or chunky tread are usually easier to push SPEEDY SCOOTERS on rough ground than scooters with smaller, smooth wheels. However, friction between the wheels and the axle can make a difference. Keywords • Distance • Surfaces • Outdoors • Activity • Friction • Resistance Watch out! Follow the organisation’s guidelines for outdoor work, including making sure there is adequate supervision. Children should help to make decisions about how to make sure that no-one gets hurt. Make sure that children wear protective equipment while testing scooters and be prepared for grazes. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236

Star level

Collections of one hour challenges recommended for children aged 3-7 years that relate to children’s everyday experiences. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the CREST Star page.


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SuperStar level


Collections of one hour challenges recommended for children aged 7-11 years that relate to broader situations that children are likely to have come across. Find out more about this level and how to gain a CREST Award on the CREST SuperStar page.


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