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Explore the scientific concepts involved with funicular railways by creating your own working model at home. Can you explain how the funicular works using scientific vocabulary?

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Institution of Mechanical Engineers - IMechE

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🔍 Can you solve the mystery using decimals?

You’re investigating prices in a shop where everything is priced with decimals (e.g., €2.45, €3.99).

Your challenge:

Find 5 items around your home, in a shop, online etc. with decimal prices.

Add the prices of different combinations of 2 or 3 items.

Find the difference between the most expensive and least expensive item.

Round each price to the nearest whole number and compare with exact totals.

✏️ Be a thinker — use decimals to solve real problems!

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📏 Can you create a scale drawing or model?

You want to build a small model of your bedroom or garden using scale. You could also use a large item like the TV or your bed.

Your challenge:

Measure the length and width of your room or garden in meters.

Choose a scale (e.g., 1 cm = 1 m).

Draw the scaled floor plan on graph paper or create a model with paper or blocks.

Calculate the actual area and the scaled area.

Explore what happens if you change the scale.

✏️ Be an inquirer and reflective learner — how does scale help us understand spaces?

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🕒💶 Can you plan your holiday journeys using times, distances, and costs?

You’re organizing trips during your holiday and need to figure out how long they take and how much they cost.

Your challenge:

Choose 3 different journeys you might take on holiday (e.g., train from city A to B, bus to the beach, ferry to an island).

For each journey, find or imagine:

The distance (km)

The time it takes (hours and minutes)

The cost of a ticket (€ or your currency)

Add up the total time spent traveling for all journeys.

Add up the total cost for all tickets.

Compare your journeys: Which one takes the longest time? Which one costs the most?

If you wanted to save money, which journey would you skip or change? How would that affect your total time and cost?

✏️ Be a thinker and communicator — explain your travel plans clearly!

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Log in to your DreamBox account and keep building your maths skills. Remember, you’ll need your QR code to sign in, so have it ready before you start. Keep practicing to stay sharp!

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Become a travel blogger and design a full travel experience! Check out the online blog for some inspiration by clicking on the link.

Step 1: Choose Your Destination

Pick a place that excites you! It could be:

Somewhere you went on holiday

A day trip you remember well

A dream destination you’ve always wanted to explore

Step 2: Find Out (or Remember) Fun Facts

Write down at least five interesting or fun facts about the place:

What is it known for?

What did you (or would you) eat?

What’s the weather like?

Are there animals or nature?

Any cool landmarks, stories or traditions?

Step 3: Plan or Recall Your Trip

If it’s a place you want to go: plan a 3-day trip with what you’d see, do, eat and explore.

If it’s a place you’ve been to: tell us what you did each day and what you enjoyed most.

Step 4: Create Your Blog Post

Write a blog post, make a poster or create a short video that includes:

A catchy title

A short intro to your place

Your 5 fun facts

A 3-day itinerary (real or imagined)

Why this place is special to you

Step 5: Make it Stand Out!

Add drawings, photos, maps or decorations to bring your blog to life. Share it with your family.

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Imagine living your life on the road, exploring the world one country at a time... That's exactly what our NG KiDS' junior bloggers, Pepeijn and Romeq, are doing right now. Globetrotting in their family's motorhome, each day holds a new adventure, and every month they'll be telling us about all the amazing things they've been up to!

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Penguin pals on Boulders Beach!

22 December 2016
In Pepeijn and Romeq's latest blog, they take us on a special swim alongside African penguins!
Our latest adventure was to Boulders Beach near Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, which is home to a HUGE African penguin breeding colony - the biggest of the whole continent.

The beach is covered with beautiful ancient granite boulders - and of course, penguins!

The African Penguin is also known as the "Jackass Penguin" because of the braying sounds it makes.

Boulders Beach is a very popular place among locals and tourists, because you can swim and snorkel very close to the penguins.

The penguins are very curious and won't bite you, as long you don't harass or scare them!

They can grow to about 60cm tall and eat mostly sardines and squid, which they hunt for in groups. They do their hunting around two miles out to sea.

After they have laid their eggs, both the male and the female penguins incubate and take care of them, until they hatch at about 40 days.

As penguins are very clever and creative, they place their eggs behind an egg-shaped shell to confuse seagulls. Hungry seagulls will then steal the shell instead of the actual egg. Smart, right?

Baby penguins are so cute to look at. They look like a brown, woolly ball. When they get older, their fluffy coats change colour - into white and black feathers.

Did you know that penguins are monogamous? This means that they will stay together as a pair no matter what happens.

Till next time!

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A whale of a time!

4 November 2016
In Pepeijn and Romeq's latest blog, we meet a giant of the sea - the Southern Right whale!
Pepeijn and I recently went on a spectacular whale watching tour in South Africa! We saw 19 Southern Right whales - one even swam right underneath our boat!

A Southern Right can grow up to 16.5m long and weigh up to 60 tonnes - that is four times the weight of our camper truck, woah! Funny enough though, they only eat plankton and krill, which are tiny.

See the rough, white patches on these gentle giants' heads? Turns out they're not shells, but " callosities", a horn-like material that forms on their head and jawline. These patches give every whale its own unique pattern (like a human fingerprint) which makes them easy to recognise!

Did you know that when whales dive, they leave behind a ' footprint? This large circular patch of water is made by the thrust of their tail - it's impressive to see!

Southern Right whales swim to the warm South African waters to give birth. When a baby (called a calf) is born late in the season, it doesn't have enough body fat to survive the long journey back to their icy feeding grounds in Antarctica. So, mum will take her newborn on a snack pit-stop first! They swim to Namibia where the calf fills up on krill - gaining about 65kg of weight per day - for several weeks before they make their long journey back home.

Funny fact: It seems Pepeijn and I are not the only ones on a world tour... Scientists in South Africa and Argentina are currently studying the whale's callosities to determine if they swim around the entire globe!

Farewell until our next adventure!

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Twinkle, twinkle, little stars!

30 September 2016
In Pepeijn and Romeq's latest blog, they take us on a deep, dark trip into the Kalahari Desert!
owns a cool, computerized Stargazing and sleeping under the African stars has long been on our bucket list so when my mum told us that we were driving up to Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch in the Kalahari Desert, Namibia, we jumped for joy! This lodge telescope with tracking software, so it can hone in on galactic objects in the night sky.

Did you know that the Kalahari Desert is not a true desert like the Sahara but in fact a fossil desert where it often rains like cat and dogs? This makes it home to a great variety of greenery and wildlife from scorpions, snakes, zebra, giraffe, oryx and meerkats to predators like the cheetah. We spotted loads of awesome animal tracks which made our upcoming survival trip even more exciting!

Ivan, a very friendly Bushman who seems to know everything about space, showed us the Milky Way stretching overhead, the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the Southern Cross. We also spotted the Jewel Box - to the naked eye this looks like a single star but it's actually an orange supergiant (one of the largest types of stars) surrounded by smaller, blue stars. It was an incredible experience!

Until next time!
Pepeijn & Romeq
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Hello NG KiDS readers!

12 August 2016
In Pepeijn and Romeq's first blog, we learn about the boys' awesome African adventures!
Hey Of course, we're not on our own, but with our parents, NG KiDS, welcome to our Nelke and Frans. Junior Travellers Blog! My brother Pepeijn, (14) and me, Romeq, (12) have been travelling the world in an off-road truck for over 500 days now!
Pepeijn and Romeq's home is wheelie cool!
We have everything we need on board our truck which is a little bit like your house - only on big wheels! Sure we have less space, but we have the whole world to play in. Currently we are in Namibia, Southwest Africa. I suppose you may call us modern nomads... We love this lifestyle!

My school books, tests and exams are the same as yours, only my mum is my teacher, and my dad sends my work to teachers back home via the internet. So far, we've had good results - phew!
Pepeijn and Romeq's school trips are pretty hands-on!
Our favourite part of our schooling are the hands-on field trips we get to do. We have spent time with the Himba and the Damara tribes, seen lions up close in Etosha National Park, been on an African drum course in the slums and touched a cheetah!

Constantly being on the move means we're always prepared for the unexpected - we carry a camera, binoculars, a survival knife and pepper spray at all times.

We are now in the capital of Namibia. Do you know the name of it?

Farewell until our next adventure!

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NG KiDS' Junior Adventures Blog - National Geographic Kids

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NG KiDS Junior Travel Blog: Imagine living your life on the road, exploring the world one country at a time! That's exactly what our junior bloggers are up to right now!

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Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist. He makes amazing art using natural things like leaves, stones, twigs and even ice!
He creates patterns and shapes that fit in with the nature around him.

Your Task:

1. Watch the video about Andy Goldsworthy.
Look at how he uses different natural materials to make his art.

2. Go outside and collect some natural things.
You could use:

Leaves

Twigs

Stones

Flowers

Grass

Bark

3. Make your own land art!

Try to make a pattern or a shape.

Think about how the size, colour, and shape of your materials can work together.

Can you arrange them in a spiral, circle or line?

4. Take a photo of your art if you can!
You can share it on the Padlet or keep it as a memory of your nature artwork.

Challenge Questions

How does your art change if the weather changes?

What message or feeling does your land art give?

How is your work similar to or different from Andy Goldsworthy’s?

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ANDY GOLDSWORTHY FOR KIDS | LAND ART LOU BEE ABC

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Explore and Capture - Nature Photography

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Explore and Capture - Nature Photography

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What You Need:

A camera, phone or tablet to take pictures

A notebook and pencil to write or draw

(Optional) A checklist of things to find outside

What To Do:

1. Get Ready:
Talk about what summer nature looks like. Think about plants, animals, bugs and the weather.

2. Go Outside:
Take a walk in a park, garden, or in the street. Be safe and have an adult accompany you if need be. Spend about 30 to 60 minutes looking around.

3. Take Photos:
Find and take pictures of 5 different things in nature, like:

A flower or plant

A tree or leaf

An insect or animal

The sky or clouds

Something colorful in summer

4. Write Notes:
For each photo, write or draw something about it. Say what it is, where you saw it and why you took the picture.

5. Share Your Work:
Show your photos and notes to family or friends. Talk about what you saw and learned.

Extra Challenge (If You Want):

Find and photograph something showing summer changes (like a butterfly or new leaves).

Try taking photos from different angles or close-up and far away.

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Challenge: Turn Your Kitchen Into a Natural Colour Lab!

What You Need:

Natural ingredients like berries, spinach, turmeric, beetroot, red cabbage etc.

Blender, mortar & pestle, or something to crush/mash ingredients. Have an adult help you stay safe.

Water

Paintbrushes or cotton buds

Different painting surfaces: paper, cardboard, fabric, wood (if possible)

Notebook or paper for recording observations

What To Do:

Make Your Natural Paints

Crush, blend, or mash your natural ingredients.

Add a little water to create liquid paints.

Test each colour on a piece of paper to see how strong the colour is.

Colour Mixing Challenge

Mix two or more natural paints together.

Observe and write down the new colours you create.

Can you make a simple colour wheel or rainbow using only your natural paints?

Surface Experiment

Paint the same colour on different surfaces: paper, cardboard, fabric or wood.

Observe which surfaces make the colour look brighter or duller.

Write down or draw what you notice.

Colour Change Investigation

Leave your paintings to dry.

Observe if the colours get lighter, darker or change in any way after drying.

Check back after 24 hours. Do the colours fade or stay the same?

Record your observations.

Record Your Results

Create a chart, table or write a paragraph about what you discovered.

Which natural ingredient gave the boldest colour?

Which mixtures made interesting new colours?

Which surfaces showed the best colours?

Extension Challenge (if you want):

Use only your natural paints to create a pattern or design inspired by nature (leaves, animals, landscapes).

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Learn how to reuse everyday waste materials by turning them into useful or beautiful new items. Think creatively and help the environment!

What You Need:

Clean recyclable or waste materials from home like:

Plastic bottles, lids, jars

Old magazines or newspapers

Cardboard boxes or tubes

Fabric scraps, buttons or ribbons

Tin cans or egg cartons

Glue, tape, scissors, string, markers, paints (optional)

A workspace where you can safely create

Challenge Instructions:

Plan Your Project

Look around your home for materials you might throw away but could reuse.

Think about what useful or artistic object you want to make. It could be:

A planter, bird feeder or insect house

A piece of jewelry, bookmark or decoration

A toy, musical instrument or storage container

Sketch your idea or write a list of steps before starting.

Create Your Upcycled Item

Use your collected materials and tools to build your project.

Be inventive - combine different materials in new ways!

Take your time and try to make it sturdy and functional.

Explain Your Design

Write or talk about your creation:

What materials did you use and why?

How does your item help reduce waste?

What was the most challenging part?

How could you improve your design?

Share & Reflect

Show your upcycled item to your family or friends

Talk about the importance of reusing materials and caring for the environment.

Think about other ways you can reduce waste in your daily life.

Extension Challenge:

Create a mini 'Upcycling Workshop' video or step-by-step photo guide to inspire others to try their own upcycling projects!

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Use your imagination and skills to invent a brand new game using five different objects.

What You Need:

A selection of at least 10 different everyday objects (e.g., a ball, a spoon, a pair of socks, a book, a cup, a scarf, a small box, a balloon, a toy car, a hat)

Space to play and test your game

Paper and pencil for planning and rules

Steps:

Step 1: Choose Your Objects

Pick 5 different objects from your selection that you want to use in your new game.

Step 2: Imagine the Game

Think about:

What is the goal of your game?

How do players use each object?

How do players win or lose?

What rules will make your game fun and fair?

Step 3: Plan the Rules

Write down the rules clearly so everyone can understand how to play.

Include details like:

How many players?

How to start the game?

How turns work?

Any special challenges or points?

Step 4: Playtest Your Game

Try playing your game with family or friends.

Notice what works well and what could be better.

Make changes to your rules if needed.

Step 5: Share Your Game

Teach your game to others and explain how you invented it.

Talk about what you learned about teamwork, creativity and problem-solving.

Extension Challenge:

Design a name, logo or poster to promote your new game!

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This summer, your helping hands can make a real difference - at home, in the garden,or even in your community. Helping others shows responsibility, kindness and teamwork.

Here are some ways you can help:

🏠 At home:

Tidy up shared spaces

Help with cooking or setting the table

Water the plants or feed the pets

🌿 In the garden:

Pull weeds, plant seeds, or pick up litter

Create signs to remind others to care for nature

👨‍👩‍👧 With your family:

Talk about ways to save water and electricity

Help a younger sibling with a task

Offer to read a book together

🏘 In your neighborhood:

Say kind words or smile at someone

Help an elderly neighbour (with an adult)

Create a positive poster or card to brighten someone's day

✅ Your challenge:

Keep a “Helping Hands Log” to track how many ways you helped this summer

Write or draw how each act made you and others feel

At the end of the summer, reflect:

Which was your favourite way to help?

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Your challenge over the holidays is to get active and see if you can reach a total of 100 kilometres by walking, running, cycling, swimming or any way you like to move!

💪 How to Get Started:

Choose your favourite way to move - walk, run, cycle, swim, skate or even dance!

Ask a family member to help you track the distance and time for each activity.

Keep a log of your distances and times. Challenge yourself to improve your speed or endurance as you go!

📊 Track Your Progress:

Keep a journal or create a digital chart to record your daily distances.

Make a map or infographic to show the routes you take and how far you’ve travelled.

Take photos or videos of your activities and share your progress with family.

🏅 Tips to Succeed:

Break your goal into smaller targets - for example, aim for 10km a week or about 1.5km a day.

Mix up your activities to keep it fun and interesting!

Remember to warm up before exercising and cool down afterward to stay safe.

🌟 Bonus Challenge:

Reflect on how moving more made you feel. Did you notice changes in your energy, mood or focus? Write a short paragraph or draw a picture about your experience.

Ready to get moving and hit 100km? Let’s do this!

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Develop your sketching and creativity skills by drawing a different theme every day.

Materials Needed:

A sketchbook or plain paper

Pencils, rubber and colored pencils/markers (optional)

A ruler (optional, for certain challenges)

How to Complete the Challenge:

Each day, choose one of the prompts below to sketch in your book.

Take your time and focus on making the drawing as detailed as you can.

You can add color to your sketches if you wish, or keep them simple with just pencil shading.

Challenge yourself to fill up the page with your drawing each day!

Mindfulness Tip: As you sketch, focus on the shapes, lines and details of your subject. If your mind starts to wander, bring it back to your drawing. Enjoy the process, not just the finished piece!

30 Day Sketching Prompts:

Day 1: Draw your favorite animal in a playful pose.

Day 2: Sketch a tree with lots of leaves and branches.

Day 3: Draw a cup of your favorite ice cream with all the toppings.

Day 4: Create a superhero and give them a unique superpower.

Day 5: Sketch a sunny beach scene with sand and waves.

Day 6: Draw a rocket ship flying to space.

Day 7: Create a garden with flowers, butterflies, and insects.

Day 8: Draw a magical castle with a dragon flying nearby.

Day 9: Sketch a close-up of your favorite fruit.

Day 10: Draw a treehouse with a rope ladder and swings.

Day 11: Create a detailed drawing of a tree with an animal in it (like an owl or squirrel).

Day 12: Sketch a robot doing something fun or helpful.

Day 13: Draw a pair of shoes or sneakers with cool designs.

Day 14: Create a cozy room with a comfy chair and books.

Day 15: Sketch a bicycle with a basket and flowers inside.

Day 16: Draw a cloud shaped like an animal.

Day 17: Sketch a picnic scene with food and people having fun.

Day 18: Draw a superhero with their costume and cape.

Day 19: Sketch a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Day 20: Draw a dragon with detailed scales.

Day 21: Create a detailed drawing of a piece of fruit like a watermelon or apple.

Day 22: Sketch a beach ball and a sandcastle.

Day 23: Draw a mountain landscape with a river running through it.

Day 24: Sketch an ice cream cone with sprinkles and a cherry on top.

Day 25: Create a drawing of a dream house or treehouse.

Day 26: Draw a lighthouse by the sea at sunset.

Day 27: Sketch an underwater scene with fish and seaweed.

Day 28: Draw a friendly monster or alien.

Day 29: Create a drawing of your favorite holiday celebration.

Day 30: Draw a self-portrait of yourself doing something you love.

If you don't love the prompts above, choose your own drawings each day for 30 days.

Reflection Section (if you want):

At the end of the 30 days, reflect on your sketches. Can you write a brief description of what you enjoyed most about the challenge and which sketches you are most proud of. Look back on your first sketches and compare them with your final ones. How much have you improved?

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Click on the link and explore fun activities that can help build reading and language skills. Some of the activities are free to use but if you want even more activities, you can create an account - but you’ll need an adult to help you set it up.

Give it a go and enjoy learning while you play!

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At Starfall, children have fun while they learn. Educational games, movies, books, and more for 4th and 5th grade learners.

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Click on the link and explore fun activities that can help build maths skills. Some of the activities are free to use but if you want even more activities, you can create an account - but you’ll need an adult to help you set it up.

Give it a go and enjoy learning while you play!

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At Starfall, children have fun while they learn. Educational games, movies, books, and more for 4th and 5th grade learners.

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Click on the link, watch the video and get creative as you draw your own mandala. Creating mandalas are a great way of promoting mindfulness, relaxation and creativity.

Materials Needed:

Blank white paper or card

Colored pencils, crayons, or markers

A quiet space to create

Mindfulness Tips:

As you create, take deep breaths and focus on the patterns in the mandala.

Pay attention to how the lines, shapes and colours make you feel. Are there any that calm you or make you feel happy?

Take your time. There is no rush. Let your mind relax and enjoy the process.

If your mind starts to wander, gently bring it back to the design and the patterns in front of you.

Summer Theme Suggestions for Mandala Design:

Sun Mandala: Include elements like suns, rays, clouds and stars, symbolising the bright and warm summer days.

Ocean Mandala: Waves, seashells and beach scenes arranged in a circular pattern.

Flower Mandala: Summer flowers like daisies, sunflowers or tulips in a repeating design.

Fruit Mandala: Mandala shapes made of summer fruits like watermelons, strawberries and pineapples.

Reflection Section:

Once you’ve finished creating the mandala, spend a few minutes thinking about the lines, colours and shapes you chose and how these made you feel.

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YouTube Kids - An App Created for Kids to Explore Content

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Discover a safer way to explore all types of content on our app made just for kids. Learn more about how YouTube Kids works.

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Find attached some websites that you might find useful:

IXL - Year 5 maths practice

Math Games, Books, and Videos for Kids - Funbrain

Home | CoolMath4Kids

Math is Fun

Maths home learning | Home learning | White Rose Education

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Welcome to IXL's year 5 maths page. Practise maths online with unlimited questions in more than 200 year 5 maths skills.

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Research an eco-system in your local area or that of a place you visit during your holiday. Understand how energy flows through an ecosystem by exploring the relationships between plants, animals, and decomposers.

What to do:

1. Choose an Ecosystem:
Pick a local environment you know or can observe—this could be a garden, park, pond, or woodland area near your home.

2. Research the Organisms:
Find out which plants (producers), animals (consumers), and decomposers live there. Producers make their own food (like grass or trees), consumers eat other organisms (like insects, birds, or small mammals), and decomposers break down dead material (like fungi or worms).

3. Plan Your Food Chain:
Draw or write a simple chain showing who eats whom. Build Your Model:
Use materials like paper, clay, recycled items, or craft supplies to create a 3D model or a detailed poster of your food chain or food web. Include pictures or drawings of the organisms.

4. Explain the Energy Flow:
Write a few sentences describing how energy moves from one organism to the next and why each part of the chain is important for the ecosystem’s balance.

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Investigate Variables Affecting Plant Growth

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Investigate Variables Affecting Plant Growth

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Conduct an experiment testing different variables such as soil type, water amount, or light exposure on plant growth. Keep a detailed journal with measurements and conclusions.