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 SuperStar challenges

  • Text
  • Handson
  • Stem
  • Challenges
  • Discussion
  • Explore
  • Create
  • Experiment
  • Investigate
  • Toothpaste
  • Materials
  • Glue
  • Tomato
  • Yoghurt
  • Superstar
The activities in this pack have been selected from our library of CREST SuperStar challenges. Children need to complete eight challenges to achieve a CREST SuperStar Award. If you want, you can mix and match challenges from different packs, as long as children complete eight SuperStar challenges. 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/).

Bridge Blunder Activity

Bridge Blunder Activity Card A sparkling new footbridge has been built in Startown. Class 4 of Startown Primary School were invited to the grand opening. All the children stood on the bridge as their classmate Anil (aged 8) cut the official tape. Even before the cheers had died down the bridge began to sway and bend. All the children were hastily rushed to one end and the bridge was closed. Star Spans, the designers of the bridge, looked very red faced. “We’re not sure what went wrong. The bridge was such a beautiful shape. What do we do now? Can anyone help us?” Your challenge Can you help Star Spans design a bridge that can be used safely? When people design bridges they build models. This is what you will need to do. Discuss • How many different kinds of bridge do you know? • Are some shapes stronger than others? Getting started Your bridge needs to span 20 cm. Think about which shapes are the strongest. Try exploring bridge shapes with single pieces of paper. You can cut the paper if you wish. Why not try rolling, curving and folding the paper.

Test your ideas Test it with weights. Does it matter where you put the weights? Remember the children were standing across the whole length of the bridge when it started to wobble. Now make one final model. You might like to record your results in a table like this: 10 100 2/2 Bridge Maximum weight bridge could hold Bridge #1 Bridge #2 Bridge #3 Share your ideas Show your bridge to the rest of the class. You could take pictures and add notes about what you think might make your bridge stronger and more stable. Extra things to do Can you find out about the highest and longest bridges in the world? What did people in ancient times use to build bridges? How does this compare to bridges built today? You could find out about different bridges and make models of them to show how they work. 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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