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Let’s Build (Materials) – Sorting Objects
Objectives
To further their understanding of materials and their properties by sorting and classifying objects.
To talk about the properties of materials using terms such as: hard, soft, stretchy, stiff, bendy/floppy.
Resources
Magnets | Large hoops | Objects made from different materials | Strips of card | Trays | Cloths
Vocabulary
rough/smooth | flat/bumpy | sharp/blunt | wood | metal | plastic | glass | rock | materials | properties
Today's Lesson
What to Get Ready
Have magnets, objects made from different materials, hoops and strips of card available around the room.
Place a selection of objects on a tray covered by a cloth. One of the objects should be the 'odd one out'. (For example, all but one object is made of wood.)
Introduction
Show your student the tray with the cloth over the objects.
Say: ‘In a minute I am going to take the cloth away and you must look very carefully at the objects. One of them will be the odd one out. When you think you know, don't say anything but just put your thumb up.’
Show your student the tray and only tell them that they need to be thinking about material properties when they have had their initial guesses. Play this several times, asking your student to talk about why they have selected an object to be the odd one out.
Ask questions such as:
- Why have you chosen this object?
- What makes it different from the other objects?
- Is there another object we could put on the tray to keep it company? Another object made from the same material?
Talk about all the different ways they might choose the odd one out - there can be more than one correct answer.
Main Activity
Then ask your student to put some objects on a tray, one of which is the odd one out.
Tell your student that you are going to try and guess which object they have chosen as the odd one out by asking them ‘yes or no’ questions.
For example, you might ask: ‘Is it made of metal?’ Or, ‘Is it rough?’
Then swap over so that your student has a chance to ask the questions this time.
Encourage the use of appropriate vocabulary such as ‘hard’, ‘soft’, ‘stretchy’, ‘stiff’, ‘bendy/floppy’ and ‘magnetic’.
Apply
Finally, finish the lesson by asking your student to think about this question:
- If everything I touched became flexible (floppy), how would my life be different?
Talk with them about how this would affect everyday life. For example, you could imagine a floppy car or house.
Next, ask them to consider life without other material properties, such as flexibility or strength, or a world where everything was soft or bouncy.
You could tell them the story of King Midas and how everything he touched turned to gold metal. It sounds like a great idea but think about the things that would be no good if they were made of gold! (For example, food, water, and clothes.)