Materials have properties — Chemistry, 4–6 years
Things are made of materials, and each material can be noticed by what it is like: hard or soft, bendy or stiff, smooth or rough.
Notice what materials are like
A material is what an object is made from, such as wood, glass, wool or metal. We can notice its properties by looking, touching safely or trying a gentle bend: it may be hard, soft, smooth, rough, stretchy or stiff. These words help us describe rather than guess.
Why describe materials?
People needed to choose the right stuff for a job: a window should let light through, while a raincoat should keep water out. This problem led to careful comparisons of materials. Describing a property gives a useful clue about what an object may do, instead of relying only on its colour or shape.
Example: choosing a cup
1. We need a cup for water. 2. We compare a paper napkin, a plastic cup and a metal spoon. 3. The napkin is soft and soaks up water; the spoon is hard but cannot hold much water; the plastic cup is stiff and does not let water through. 4. We choose the plastic cup.
The colour trap
It is easy to think that objects with the same colour are made of the same material. That seems reasonable because colour is the first thing we often notice. But a red apple, a red ball and a red brick can all be made from different materials, with different properties. Check more than one clue.
Where it helps
Builders, cooks and designers think about material properties when they make or choose things. A saucepan needs to be strong and safe with heat, while a tea towel needs to be soft and absorbent. At home, you use the same idea when choosing a coat, a container or a toy for a particular job.
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