Intermediate Resources

Years: 0-8

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Arts, Maths, Social Studies, English.

Time to Teach: Many hours of content available.

Resources required: Devices depending on activity.

Creator: Mindlab & Genisis School-gen

Posted by: Sam


Mind Lab Kids and Genesis School-gen have partnered to bring teachers FREE access to a series of fun, creative experiments and problems for students to solve. Perfect for inspiring young makers, doers, thinkers and tinkerers. Genesis School-gen are providing Mind Lab Kids to all New Zealanders free for the winter months. Subscribe at any time, no questions asked. Teachers can choose to sign up Mindlab Kids and asign work to students digitally or alternatively, students can create their own accounts and guide their own learning from home alongside their whaanau.

News 4 Youth- COVID-19 Learning Activities

Years: 6-8

Curriculum Links: English, Social Science, Science

Time to Teach: 1 hour +

Resources required: Devices depending on activity.

Creator: News4Youth

Posted by: Sam

News 4 Youth- COVID-19 (Years 6-8).pdf

News4Youth is a photocopiable current events resource for students ages 10 and up. This organisation produce monthly issues of resources focused on current events around the world. In this edition, students engage in a range of learning activities focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic. Activities include reading investigations, infographic interpretation and mapping with a focus on the health impacts of COVID-19. The resource pack contains simple teacher instructions and learning activities that are ready to be delivered from a distance or at home.

Microsoft Education Family Learning Center

Click the links below to access activities for different age groups

Activities for students aged 3-6

Activities for students aged 6-9

Activities for students aged 9-12

Posted by: Sam

Years: 0-1, 2-5, 6-8

Curriculum Links: All aspects of the Curriculum

Time to Teach: Varies by resource

Resources required: Devices (but varies by resource selected).

Curated by: Microsoft Education

This collection of resources provided by Microsoft Education is designed for teachers or whaanau to keep students engaged in learning for an hour or more with safe and simple, collaborative learning experiences for ages 3 to 12. This collection of free activities, curated out of educational resources from around the world, encourages students and their whaanau to Learn, Do and Share. Great for remote learning, homework or using in a classroom setting. The resources vary in focus however many have strong STEAM and e-Learning themes.

Sound Mapping (Yrs 7-9) How do sounds influence a region or culture

Posted by: Sam

Sound mapping

Years: 7-9 (but appropriate for all)

Curriculum Links: Technology, Math, Science

Time to Teach: 1-3 hours

Resources required: Balloons, plastic bottles/cups, cardboard, CD's, Bottle Caps, Empty tape rolls, skewers, stares, tape, glue, scissors, rubber bands.

Creator: Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

This task requires students to explore how sound can influence a place or the culture within a place in their school. Students record the sounds of different places around the school and create an interactive sound map which can be published to other students. Students can then go on and use their recorded sounds to create and original composition that identifies certain spaces within the school or the school itself.

Masking Mirrors

Years: 7-10

Curriculum Links: Social Studies, Science, Art

Time to Teach: 1-3 hours (but could be extended into a larger unit).

Resources required: Websites linked in the lesson, Acrylic paint, markers, paper, paintbrushes and pencils, mask forms, glue, water and newspaper, chart paper or chart board, computer, projector, speakers

Creator: Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

Masking Mirrors (Yrs 7-9) Art, Social Studies, Science.pdf

Posted by: Sam

This lesson begins by having students to explore the cultural use and design of masks from their own and others cultures. Students will conduct a case study on Dia de Los Muertos celebrations in Mexico with a focus on the uses of masks to show the mirrors of life and death and symmetry. Students are then tasked with looking at the beneficial or destructive forces of different elements or chemical compounds (for example, Carbon Dioxide is essential for the Photosynthesis of plants, but is a destructive Green House gas). Students will then create a mask which reflects their understanding of the these elements or chemicals.

RUBE GOLDBERG family video challenge

Years: ALL

Curriculum Links: Technology, Math, Science

Time to Teach: 1-3 hours

Resources required: video camera, bar of soap, various at home items (string, domino set, balls, marbles, tubing, funnels, appliances....)

Creator: Rube Goldberg

Posted by: Nicole

This task requires families to create a video of a Rube Goldberg machine that delivers a bar of soap into someone's hand. This activity can be done by all of the family at home. Rube Goldberg have a competition online that closes May 31st 2020, but this is an activity that can be done at any time as class/school wide competitions. A Rube Goldberg machine uses the principles of energy transformation and simple machines all demonstrated in one machine.

Design Thinking Project Template

Years: 7-13 (but adaptable for all ages)

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Math (others depending on issue.)

Time to Teach: 8-10 hours (longer or shorter if desired)

Resources required: Computers, internet, craft supplies (ice block sticks, post-it notes, felts, lego/building blocks, paper, glue, scissors)

Creator: Nicole Stevens

A template for a design thinking STEAM project.docx

Posted by: Nicole Graphic credit

This task provides a template for teachers to use to facilitate a design thinking project based around an issue identified by the students. The issue used in this template is something students observed or experienced during lock down or a holiday break that they want to change. But it could be any issue. The resource steps teachers through the design thinking process describing the purpose of each step.

Trash to Treasure

Years: 7-10

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Math (others depending on treasure chosen)

Time to Teach: 3 hours (longer or shorter if desired)

Resources required: Trash, paint, glue,

Treasure art.pptx

Creator: Nicole Stevens

In this task students are asked to look at upcycling their trash into a treasure. The pack includes a differentiated student task sheet, ranking table and lots of ideas on how simple trash can be turned into works of art. Students are also asked to ideate on multiple 'treasure' options and rank them prior to creating their final masterpiece / reuseable item. Makes for great gifts or an end product for a larger sustainability topic

Trash to Treasure project ideas.pdf
Trash to Treasure student task sheet.pdf
Student retrieval grid.pdf

Years: 7 - 13 (depending on project selected)

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, English, Health and PE, Social Science, Languages, Art, Digital Technologies

Time to Teach: As much time as you want to spend on it.

Resources required: Devices and the internet

Posted by: Sam

Zooniverse is a platform that allows anyone in the world to contribute to academic research in a range of different fields. Anyone can contribute to a range of projects that are listed on their website, and all projects have tasks and instructions that are simple to follow and easily accessible for students. Projects include identifying wildlife in aerial photographs or wildlife cameras, transcribing the letters of soldiers from World War I and II, identifying the antibiotic of different medicines to diseases and identifying distant galaxies and asteroids via telescope images. There are currently more then 100 different projects listed on Zooniverse in a range of different fields. You do not need to sign up to an account, however if you and you students do, your names could be featured in published research that they have helped contribute too. This is an incredible tool for getting kids active in a field and explore what it means to be a researcher or scientist.

Trick Shot

Years: All years

Curriculum Links: Science, Physical

Education

Time to Teach: 1

hour

Resources: Per

group: 6 cups (plastic, paper or real), 3 ping pong balls, optional: ruler or

range of items to create trick shot with.

Creator and Posted by: Aleesha

Trick Shot!.pdf

This lesson students try to complete trick shots using ping pong balls and cups. The aim is to get students engaged with this activity and get them thinking about the why/how behind how it works. Students should think about bio-mechanical principles and physics principles such as; projectile motion and Newton's Laws will think about different angles and techniques that they can use in order to achieve their goal. Students then put what they have learnt into practice by creating their own trick shot to challenge the other students in class to complete. Talk with students should relate to principles highlighted above and comparisons being made to other actions (kicking a ball, hitting a ball, shooting hoops etc).

Ping Pong Golf Maze.pdf

Ping Pong Golf Maze

Years: All years

Curriculum Links: Science,

Physical Education

Time to Teach: 1 hour

Resources: Per group: 1 ping pong ball,​ 1 cup,​ masking or other tape or

coloured dots to mark out maze, books/blocks or other items to use as

obstacles, no straws will be used in this activity.

Posted by: Aleesha

This lesson students will need to work as a group to blow a ping pong ball around a maze. The aim is to get students working together to complete a challenge and to think about the best ways to use their team mates. Students should think about strategies to achieve the goal, then testing out those strategies and finally discussing positives and negatives of using those strategies. Students should think about bio-mechanical principles and physics principles such as; projectile motion and Newton's Laws will think about different angles and techniques that they can use in order to achieve their goal.

Look Mum No Hands - Cup Stacking Challenge

Years: All years

Curriculum Links: Science,

Physical Education

Time to Teach: 1 hour

Resources: Per group: 6 cups​, 1 -4 rubber bands,1-2 metres of

string​ cut into smaller pieces

Posted by: Aleesha

Look Mum No Hands.pdf

This lesson students try to stack the cups in specific formations without using their hands and with the help of their team mates. The aim is to get students engaged with this activity and get them thinking about the best strategy to use in order to complete the challenge. Students will experience a range of different challenges which start simple and then become more difficult this will cause them to rethink strategy and how they can achieve their goal. Students also have a chance to share the strategies they used and explain why they worked as well as developing their own challenge.


Twinkl.co.nz is an online teacher resource database featuring hundred of thousands of different classroom ready learning activities, lessons and units of work that are fully downloadable with an active membership. Although the website is UK based, they have a fantastic collection of resources designed specifically to fit the needs of the New Zealand Curriculum. The website usually has a fee attached however they are currently offering a free month of membership due to the situation with COVID-19. To access your free membership go to www.twinkl.co.uk/offer and enter the code NZLTWINKLHELPS

Years: ECE-13

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art , Maths, Social Science, Languages, Health and PE

Time to Teach: Varies by resource

Resources: Varies by resource

Posted by: Sam

Years: 4-8 (advertised as Years 8/9)

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths

Time to Teach: 6 x 30 minute STEM lessons

Resources: TV show and supporting teachers pack


Posted by: Nicole

This free to air TVNZ and Nanogirls lab partnership is to provide hands on STEM activities for students at home during lockdown. 6 x 30 minute shows will air on TVNZ Home Learning channel every Tuesday and Thursday at 12.30pm starting on Tuesday 28th April

Breaking it Down STEM TV lessons from Nanogirl


Creator: Nanogirl (Dr. Michelle Dickinson)

Dr Michelle Dickinson is the famous Nanogirl, a fun and engaging female scientist who brings the excitement back to hands on science. She has joined forces with TVNZ during lockdown to bring us Breaking it down. A 6 episode TV show aimed at Year 4-8 students (advertised as Years 8/9) that includes hands on science that can be done at home. It will also have interviews with scientists and engineers. The topics are; Light / Human brain / plastics / materials / energy and electricity and sound. Teachers just need to register through nanogirls lab to get access to a teaching pack 24 hours prior to each lesson.

US challenge cards with cover.pdf

44 Engineering and Science challenge cards from Dyson

Age: 7 and above

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art , Maths, Social Science, Languages, Health and PE

Time to Teach: Varies by resource

Resources: Varies by resource

Posted by: Aleesha

Created by: The James Dyson Foundation

The James Dyson Foundation have created this PDF of 44 challenge cards with a engineering and science focus however, there are a range of other underlying subject areas within these projects. It has been designed for any adults to use with children aged 7 and above. The learning focuses on a practical task and there is information for more in-depth learning that teachers can build on and extend to suit the needs of students. This is a really good resource with a great range of activities with pictures and examples that will engage kids and adults alike!

Copy of STEM Space At Home: Space Lander Editable Slides

STEM Space at Home: Space Lander Challenge

Age: 10 and above

Curriculum Links: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art , Maths

Time to Teach: Multiple hours (up to teacher)

Resources: Ping pong ball or jumbo marshmallow, scissors, tape, 3 - 5 oz paper or plastic cup, paper, cotton balls, straws, student handouts (provided in downloadable slides), YouTube clip (if wanted) to aid in delivery of lesson.

Created by: Vivify STEM

Posted by: Sam

This resource created by American organisation Vivify STEM in conjunction with NASA is designed to support students during school closings due to COVID-19, however is completely suitable for use in the everyday classroom. This project is designed to get students to use design thinking to begin thinking like an Engineer. This task asks students to explore the issue of landing a spacecraft on the Planet Mars and asks them to design a lander that will be able to handle the stresses of space travel. All instructions can be found in the attached PowerPoint slides or instructions and further information about the task can be accessed via this link.