Everyday materials · Year 2
An object is a thing; a material is what it is made of. A spoon can be made of metal, wood or plastic. Each material has properties – hard or soft, stiff or bendy, waterproof or absorbent, see-through or not – and we choose materials whose properties suit the job.
Key facts
- Common materials: wood, metal, plastic, glass, fabric, paper, rubber, rock, brick and clay.
- Properties include hard or soft, stiff or bendy, stretchy, rough or smooth, shiny or dull, waterproof or absorbent, transparent or opaque, strong or weak.
- We choose a material for its properties: glass for windows (transparent), rubber for wellies (waterproof and bendy), fabric for towels (absorbent).
- Some solid objects can change shape by squashing, bending, twisting or stretching.
- Metals are good conductors of heat and electricity. Plastic, wood, rubber and glass are insulators.
- Only some metals are magnetic: iron, nickel and cobalt, and steel (which is mostly iron). Aluminium, copper and gold are not.
Worked examples
Example 1
Why are windows made of glass and not wood?
Answer: glass is transparent, so light comes in and we can see out; it is also hard and waterproof
Example 2
Ella pours water onto four paper towels and measures how much each soaks up: A 35 ml, B 22 ml, C 48 ml, D 30 ml. Which is the most absorbent, and how much more does it soak up than the least absorbent?
Answer: C; 26 ml more than B
Example 3
Which of these will a magnet pick up: an iron nail, an aluminium can, a steel paper clip, a copper coin, a plastic button?
Answer: the iron nail and the steel paper clip
Example 4
Why do saucepans have a metal base but a plastic or wooden handle?
Answer: metal conducts heat well, so it heats the food; plastic and wood are insulators, so the handle stays cool to hold