Support your Year 2 students in the Chemical Sciences: Manipulating Materials unit of work with our engaging and purposeful assessment task, Material Rescuers: Paper Plants.

Tailored to the Year 2 Chemical Sciences Australian Curriculum, this activity will provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of how materials can be changed physically without changing their material composition and explore the effect of different actions on materials including bending, twisting, stretching and breaking into smaller pieces (AC9SU03). Additionally, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the Science as a Human Endeavour strand as they explore how physically changing materials helps us to re-use them in a variety of ways and decrease waste.

Students will use scrap paper to make a seed ball, with the ultimate intention of growing a plant. From soaking and mashing the paper, adding seeds, rolling balls and finally planting their completed seed ball, students will be part of the entire process.

The included experiment writeup will challenge students to make predictions, record observations and streamline their thoughts into cohesive concluding statements. The completed writeups will provide high quality evidence for assessment, comprehensively demonstrating your students’ current level of understanding. All components of the write-up can be completed on the day, with the potential for plants to grow being an additional bonus in the weeks to come.

Detailed instructions have been included with the task, as some equipment and materials will need to be prepared ahead of time. Where possible, we recommend completing Step 1 of the experiment the day before the main lesson.

It’s time to make plants out of paper!

This resource is a part of our Chemical Sciences Year 2 UNIT PLAN.