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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3 years ago

SuperStar Home Learning

  • Text
  • Superstar
  • Rafts
  • Rocket
  • Shapes
  • Registered
  • Raft
  • Glue
  • Rockets
  • Association
  • Spinners
  • Yoghurt
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/).

ACING ROCKETS Racing

ACING ROCKETS Racing Rockets Organiser’s Card About the activity This activity is designed to get the children to think about rocket designs and build a rocket that can go as high as possible. The children have seen a poster about a new rocket competition inviting them to design and fly a rocket. The competitors need to set their sights high and produce creative ideas. Through this activity you will support your group to: • Think about different shapes of rockets • Test different rocket shapes and sizes • Share their findings with the rest of the group RACING ROCKETS Kit list • Pencils or dowel to roll the rockets • Strips of paper or card (cut to 1/4 of an A4 sheet) • Sellotape • Scissors • Plastic straws – 1 per child • Metre ruler or tape measure • Plasticine, Blu-Tack or paperclips to add weight • Extra card to make fins

What to do 1. Read the ACTIVITY CARD to familiarise yourself with the activity. 2. Check the Kit list to ensure you have the correct resources. 3. Set the scene using the poster and invite the children to enter the competition. 4. Give children a short time to talk about rockets and share their ideas. 5. Give each team the resources that they will need for the challenge. 6. Let children explore making and flying the basic tube shape. Give support to any groups that seem to be struggling. ROCKETS 7. Once they have the basic shape working, give children plenty of time to experiment to find out what makes a difference to how the rocket flies. They may need to make several versions to compare them. 8. When the time is up, all the children gather to present and test their rockets. 9. Measure the distance that each rocket travels. Test them three times each. It is up to you to decide if children can repair or adjust their rockets after each test. 10. Give points to each rocket according to the distance travelled. You can give extra points for design. 11. Announce the winners of the competition. 12. Encourage children to decide what made a difference to how each rocket flew. They could do a design report for Windy Astralbody. 13. The winning designs can be displayed on a podium. Things to think about RACING ROCKETS The rockets will not work very well unless one end is flattened, folded and sealed. Let them explore this for themselves first. Watch out for children launching rockets by hand rather than blowing. The children will need to agree on where to launch their rockets from and how the flight will be measured. Take it further Once children have the basic rocket shape there is plenty of scope for investigation such as size, materials and shape. Three important things affect the way rockets fly – aerodynamics, stability and balance. Flattening and folding one end will help to make the rocket more aerodynamic and prevent air escaping. Children might experiment with trying to make the nose more cone-shaped. Children can try attaching fins in different positions. This will affect the stability of the rocket. Fins at the tail end tend to be the most stable. Weight will also affect the flight. A little additional weight at the tail end can help. If it is too heavy it may not fly at all.

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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