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/).

SURPRISING STAINS

SURPRISING STAINS Surprising Stains Activity Card Frank, Cosmic and Gem love blackberries. There are blackberries in the hedges near where they live. They have collected large bowls full of the dark, juicy fruit. Then, they look at their white tee shirts. Oh no! They are covered in blackberry stains. Cosmic rushes to the sink and gets some soap to wash them out. Gem sprinkles her stains with lemon juice. “Look what’s happened to the stains! They have change colour” commented Cosmic. “So have mine! Why did that happen?” asked Gem. “How fascinating! We need to do some investigating. I think a little chemistry might help” answered Frank. Your challenge Find out what has happened to the stains on Cosmic and Gem’s tee shirts. Discuss Talk to your buddy about what you think might have happened.

Getting started Here is what Frank thinks you need to do first. Squash some blackberries in a little water to get the juice out of them. Put a bit of blackberry juice on two saucers or in small containers. Add a little soap to the juice in one container and see what happens. Now add lemon juice to the blackberry juice in the other container. SURPRISING STAINS Compare the colours. Now try adding other things to blackberry juice To carry out the tests you will need: Blackberries - you do not need a lot of juice (you could use ripe blackcurrants instead) Saucers or small containers Spoons Lemon juice (bottled is fine) Liquid soap A selection from lime juice, vinegar, fizzy drinks, apple juice, white grape juice, orange juice, crushed rhubarb, cream of tartar, yoghurt etc. (optional) Other dark coloured plants You may want to use a table like this to record your findings: What we added Soap Lemon juice What happened You may also want to try: Raspberries Blackberries Beetroot Red cabbage Purple sprouting broccoli Cherries Red onion skins Blueberries Red grape juice What else would you like to try?

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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