Curated OER
Tie Snakes
Second graders make snakes out of ties. The students sew the bottom of the ties shut and stuff them with shredded plastic bags, the kind from a grocery store. They then sew them shut at the top. The students then sew on button eyes and a...
University of Georgia
Bag O' Isotopes
Accommodate your chemistry class with an experiment that is both entertaining and educational. Through the activity, blossoming chemists perform calculations on various isotopes, as represented by beans and legumes, to obtain the average...
Curated OER
Bread in a Bag
Could the history of bread really be interesting? Yes, it could! An informational text gives scholars wheat production background from 8,000 years ago, discussing different types of bread and the current industry in Oklahoma. Learners...
Curated OER
More Grocery Bag Fun
Young scholars practice both underhand and overhand throwing using plastic bags as balls. They also explore how to hit a target, throw a ball through a hoop, or throw a ball to a partner.
Curated OER
Relating Maya
Students read about the bags that the Maya people made and about how reusing bags can help save our environment. In this environment lesson plan, students read and discuss conservation and observe pictures.
Texas Instruments
How Do Pinnipeds Stay Warm?
Learners experiment to determine ways different types of insulation materials work. In this animal adaptation instructional activity, they make hand coverings from plastic bags, shortening, feathers, and wool. They observe effects of...
Curated OER
Jello Cells
Learners create a three dimensional model of a cell. In this cellular structure lesson, students use gelatin, plastic bags, plastic containers, and fruit to construct a model of a cell. They compare the cells structures and stack them to...
Curated OER
Mini Water Cycle
In this water cycle worksheet, students create a mini version of the water cycle in a plastic bag by observing the bag for 5 days. Each day students draw a picture of how their bag looks and write an explanation of what they see. Next,...
Curated OER
Biodegradable Plastics
Students prepare a type of biodegradable plastic. They design method(s) to compare its properties with some common plastics that are readily available in the market. They later advance to identifying variables in an experiment and fair...
Curated OER
Water Cycle Stories
Students explore the water cycle and associated phase changes. They predict what happens to the mass of an ice cube in a Ziploc bag, discuss and act out phase changes and diagram the water cycle.
American Chemical Society
Evaporation
This is one in several lessons that explore the relationship between temperature and phase changes of water. After some discussion, elementary physical scientists place wet paper toweling on a hot and a room-temperature water bag and...
Curated OER
Biotech in a Bag
Students carry out a series of experiments using self-locking plastic baggies. Each experiment demonstrates a phenomenon or principle of biotechnology.
Curated OER
Activities with 3-D shapes.
In this 3D shapes learning exercise, students describe faces, feel shapes in a bag, use play dough to make shapes, and more. Students complete 8 activities.
Curated OER
Dirty Decomposers
Learners explore the ecosystem by conducting a ziploc bag experiment. In this recycling lesson, students identify decomposer organisms in our environment and how they speed up the recycling process. Learners utilize a ziploc plastic bag,...
Curated OER
Parachutes
Young scholars make and observe the flight of simple parachutes. In this parachute lesson, students listen to Henry M. Holden's, Fire-Fighting Aircraft and Smoke Jumpers. They make parachutes out of plastic bags, tape, and strings before...
DiscoverE
Build a Watershed
What's the best way to learn how watersheds work? Build one! Combining engineering, the water cycle, and ecology concerns, the activity is the perfect fit for an interdisciplinary unit. Teams construct a model watershed with simple...
American Chemical Society
Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
Atomic bombs harness the power in the nucleus of an atom, creating devastating power and damage. Classes review parts of an atom by charging a piece of plastic and holding it near their fingers, discussing what is happening and why....
Curated OER
The Plastic Bag Greenhouse
Third graders observe plants and record their growth. They describe the parts of plants in detail including the roots, stems and leaves.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Protractors
Did your students forget to bring their protractors to class again? Using this resourceful copy of four identical protractors, you can easily make a class set or let your students take them home.
American Chemical Society
Using Color to See How Liquids Combine
Blue-tinted water is added to unknown liquids that have been tinted yellow to find out how they interact. This is a memorable activity that is part of an investigation on the properties of liquids, which is part of a unit on the...
PBS
A Little Recycling Goes A Long Way
Every time you purchase something from the store, it goes into a bag, but what happens to the bag? This lesson encourages your learners to think about what happens to those plastic and paper bags and their effect on the environment. Use...
Curated OER
Money Math Match
Students hunt for the classmate who holds a bag of coins equal in value to theirs, study that different combinations of coins can represent the same amount of money and practice using coins to represent a set value in different ways.
Science Friday
Make a Model Eardrum to Detect Sound Waves
Make sound waves visible with an experiment that asks middle schoolers to build a model ear drum using plastic bottles, rubber bands, plastic wrap, and sand-like substances.
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: The Lorax
Accompany a reading of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and Tell Me, Tree by Gail Gibbons with an activity packet designed to bring awareness to nature, specifically trees. Scholars take to the outside, draw lines to create trees reminiscent of...