1 - Getting Started ~3 mins
Look around our classroom. What are the things near you made of? Is your chair wood, plastic, or metal? Hands up: one thing you can see and a guess about its material.
Keep this light. Do not hand out labels or start the hunt yet. Point to one everyday object (for example a pencil or the door) and invite two or three quick guesses only.
Key question: What is that made of?
STEM eyes: everyday classroom objects are the lab today. We are training materials eyes: notice, touch (safely), and name.
2 - What Is a Material? ~5 mins
Today's big word is material: what something is made of.
Look at these real things. A pencil is mostly wood. A lunch box or bottle lid is often plastic. A coat hook or scissors blade is often metal.
Our word bank on the board also shows glass, fabric and paper. We will use those words on the hunt. You do not need to learn every name by heart before we start.
Which material do you think your pencil is made of?
Keep the board light. Secure only the idea of material, three quick real-object examples (wood, plastic, metal), and a short visible word bank. The hunt and tray talk will carry the rest of the six names. Hold up real objects from the room while you talk.
On the board (short lines only):
- Material = what something is made of
- Three examples in hand: pencil (wood), plastic lid, metal hook or scissors
- Word bank left up as support (not a list to memorise): wood, plastic, metal, glass, fabric, paper
Use the full table below for yourself while you hold objects:
| Concept | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Material — what an object is made of | Naming the material helps us talk about things around us and later choose the right one for a job | A ruler may be wood or plastic; a coat hook may be metal |
| Wood — comes from trees; often hard and warm to touch | Lots of classroom furniture is wood | A wooden pencil, a wooden shelf, a wooden door |
| Plastic — made by people (not grown like wood); can be hard or bendy | Many everyday tools and bottles are plastic | A lunch box, a glue stick lid, a plastic chair |
| Metal — often cool and hard; can be shiny | Metal is strong for hooks, scissors and legs of furniture | Scissors blades, a coat hook, a metal lunch tin |
| Glass — hard and see-through (handle with care) | Glass lets light in so we can see through windows | The classroom window pane |
| Fabric — soft cloth you can fold or stretch a little | Clothes and soft furnishings are fabric | A jumper, a curtain, a coat lining, a felt board edge |
| Paper — thin sheets we write and draw on | We use paper every day for books and pictures | A page in a book, a sticky note, drawing paper |
Modelled noticing (say this thinking aloud once before the hunt):
- I wonder what this pencil is made of.
- I predict wood, because it looks brown like a tree.
- I look and feel — smooth wood, and a little metal band holding the rubber.
- I think the main material is wood, with a bit of metal and rubber too. One object can use more than one material.
After the model, say: Rubber is another material — well spotted if you notice it — but on our hunt we will use our six words on the board.
Misconception to head off: children may say the object's name instead of the material ("it's a chair"). Gently revoice: Yes, a chair — and the material is wood (or plastic/metal).
Keep the six names visible as a class word bank on the board (or large sticky labels stuck there as a display). Do not hand out personal label sets for the hunt. Do not drill all six before pupils leave the carpet.
3 - Materials Hunt ~12 mins
Your teacher has put you in a group and pointed to your classroom zone. Stay with your group in that zone.
Look carefully. Gently touch only the things your teacher said are safe to touch. Point to each find and say: this is a ___. It is made of ___ (use a word from the word bank on the board: wood, plastic, metal, glass, fabric or paper).
Before the lesson
- Print one Investigation Journal page per pupil.
- Write the six material names large on the board as a class word bank (or stick a few large sticky labels on the board only). Do not distribute handheld label sets to groups during the hunt.
- Place one collecting tray at the front for later favourites (empty for now). This is the sharing tray.
- Set out magnifiers ready for the next step (optional).
- Decide simple zones that keep the whole class in sight for one teacher (for example near-desk area, carpet books, coat pegs). Avoid high shelves and glass unless you are standing there. Pupils stay in their zone.
Form groups and zones before anyone moves (1–2 minutes at the start of this step)
Do this out loud on the carpet before the IWB hunt line. Put pupils into small groups of about four (use existing table groups if that is quicker). Point to each group's zone so every child knows who they are with and where they may look. State the rules aloud: stay in your zone; touch gently only what I said is safe; glass and high shelves are look-only; no climbing; keep pathways clear. One adult only is enough: you stay central and stand near glass if anyone is looking at the window. Do not rely on extra helpers.
How to run the hunt
About 8–9 minutes of looking after groups are set. Groups stay in one zone rather than rotating the whole room, so you can see everyone. Pupils point, touch gently where safe, and say: This is a ___. It is made of ___. They use the board word bank only (no sticking labels on furniture).
Guiding questions while you circulate:
- What do you notice when you look closely?
- How does it feel — hard, soft, smooth, rough, cold?
- Is more than one material used on this object?
- Where else in the room do we see that same material?
What good looks like: pupils use material words, not only object names; they notice mixed materials (scissors have metal and plastic).
Differentiation: less confident pupils match finds to the six words on the board; confident pupils hunt for two materials on one object.
Safety: no climbing on furniture; glass is look-only unless you hold it; keep pathways clear.
4 - Favourites on the Tray ~5 mins
Come back together. As a group, pick one favourite find from the hunt. If it is small and your teacher says yes, put it on the sharing tray at the front. If it must stay put (like a window or door), one person draws it quickly on scrap paper instead.
Look and feel your favourite together and name its material. Your teacher will choose who speaks for your group.
Bring the class back to the carpet or tables. One collecting tray at the front is the sharing tray (name it aloud the first time).
Run sequence (keep to five minutes):
- One favourite per group only (not one per child). Groups choose, then you approve before anything moves to the tray.
- Safe movable objects only if you approve (a pencil, a rubber, a fabric scrap, a plastic lid). Fixed objects (window, door, radiator) stay put; one quick sketch on scrap paper instead. Have scrap paper ready so the drawing option is real.
- Optional quick magnifier pass for surface detail only if time allows; skip if shares will overrun.
- Brief whole-class shares: you pick one speaker per group. Revoice: You brought fabric — the curtain scrap — soft and foldable.
Observation prompts (say aloud while groups look):
- What material is it?
- How does it feel — hard or soft, smooth or rough, warm or cool?
- What job does this object do in our classroom?
Build a living tray of named materials for the discussion step. Keep each share to one short sentence so the slot stays to five minutes.
Safety: no glass objects on the tray unless you handle them; return borrowed items at the end.
5 - Record in Your Journal ~9 mins
On your Investigation Journal page, record three finds from the whole hunt (not only the tray favourite). For each find, write the material word from the word bank, and show the object as a word or a picture. A drawing counts as the object.
Pupils record on the paper Investigation Journal page. Do not invent extra columns or a homemade sheet. Tell them what to record, not where boxes sit on the page. Each find is one clear material–object match only:
- the material name (wood, plastic, metal, glass, fabric or paper)
- the classroom object shown as a word or a single picture (drawing stands for the object when writing is hard — do not ask for a separate second picture)
They may use any three finds from the hunt. Aim for at least three materials each, matching the learning objective. Protect this full sit-down slot in class (do not send the page home as the main evidence).
Support so three matches are realistic in the time: leave the six material words on the board; partners or a scribe for emerging writers; drawing can carry the object if spelling is hard; start with the tray favourite as match one if that helps them begin quickly.
Challenge: note a second material on a mixed object (for example scissors: metal and plastic).
Circulate and listen for material vocabulary rather than marking spellings heavily.
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