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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4 years ago

DNA and the world around you

  • Text
  • Activities
  • Genome
  • Wellcome
  • Freckles
  • Features
  • Extinct
  • Breeding
  • Glitter
  • Selective
  • Plants
  • Cosmic
  • Registered
  • Association
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/).

Ancient animals Activity

Ancient animals Activity Card Cosmic and Gem are reading a story about a scientist that uses DNA to bring back extinct animals. Uncle Astro “It’s not possible to bring extinct animals back using only their DNA, but some scientists think it might be possible in the future” Cosmic Gem “But the Woolly Mammoth wouldn’t be able to survive in today’s world because the environment is too different” “It would be really cool if we could bring back the Woolly Mammoth” Aunt Stella “Even though we can’t bring them back, we can learn a lot of things from the DNA of extinct animals” Your challenge Find out about different animals that are now extinct. What do we know about them and how? Think about which animal you would like to see - what would happen if we brought it back from extinction? Discuss Can you name any extinct animals? Do you think they could survive today? What would happen if they were brought back? Where would they live? What would they eat? What do you think we can learn from the DNA from ancient animals? How do you think scientists find their DNA?

Getting started Search online to see what you can find out about some extinct animals. Where did they live? What did they eat? How did they move? What did they look like? If you’re stuck you could try searching for woolly mammoth, dodo, woolly rhinoceros or thylacine. DNA is a code – how do you think scientists would use DNA to bring back extinct animals? Test your ideas What do we know about them? Is there any written record of a human seeing them alive? What do we know from their skeleton and what do we know from their DNA? Share your ideas Why not present your poster to the class, or use it as a wall display? 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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