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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1 year ago

Star On a Shoestring

  • Text
  • Cosmic
  • Plants
  • Timers
  • Association
  • Rainbow
  • Cans
  • Materials
  • Registered
  • Colours
  • Crest
  • Shoestring
  • Resource
  • Librarycrestawardsorg
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/).

Things to think about

Things to think about Some children may not have seen sand timers, so they need to play with manufactured ones first. Children can change the type and amount of sand and/or the size of the hole. Let them explore this without your support. Making the timers will be easier if children work in pairs. Children can use clocks to test their timer. If they find this difficult, let them compare their timer with a manufactured timer. Take it further The earliest records of sand timers date from the 14th century and they were often used as timers in factories and on sailing vessels. Sand timers are also known as sandglasses or hourglasses. Today, sand timers are frequently found in kitchens and board games. TESTING TIMERS It required great skill to create very accurate sand timers with the beautiful hourglass shape and a tiny hole to control the flow of the sand. Keywords • Time • Measuring TIMERS Watch out! Sand on the floor can be very slippery. Remind children not to rub their eyes when they are handling the sand and to wash their hands afterwards. Adult supervision may be required to make the holes in the cups. Make the hole from the inside of the cup. Use a soft surface underneath the cup. Find out more (links to further info) Egg timers normally run for three minutes. One minute timers are available via school suppliers see www.britishscienceassociation.org/creststar British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236 30

Testing Timers TESTING TIMERS It will soon be sports day and Cosmic and Gem are very excited. They have both been chosen to take part in the ‘ball in the bucket’ event. It’s their favourite game. They will have just one minute to throw as many balls as they can into a bucket. Activity Card “Let’s get practising,” says Cosmic. “Good idea, we can start straight away,” replies Gem. “I think there’s a bucket and some tennis balls in Uncle Astro’s shed, and we can use the clock on the kitchen wall to time ourselves.” TESTING TIMERS They were having a wonderful time until Uncle Astro comes into the kitchen to check how his cakes are getting on in the oven. “What are you two getting up to now?” he says with a smile, “Off you go into the garden before something gets broken.” TESTING TIMERS “But we won’t be able to see the clock from there,” cries Cosmic. TESTING TIMERS TESTING “And then TIMERS we can’t time one minute to see how many balls we get in the bucket,” adds Gem. “Why don’t you make a timer that you can take outside?” suggests Uncle Astro. “There’s some sand in the shed that might be useful.” 31

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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