Materials Teaching Resources

Explore the properties of materials and where they are found with your students this school year! Explore worksheets, hands-on activities, lesson plans and more teacher-created resources for teaching students about materials found in nature and made by humans.

The printable and digital resources in this collection are aligned with the Australian science curriculum, and each one has undergone a careful review by a member of the Teach Starter teacher team.

Is this your first year teaching about materials? Or perhaps you're simply looking for some fresh information and ways to teach this science topic? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a materials definition to share with your students, plus explanations of the differences between matural and man-made materials!

What Are Materials? A Kid-Friendly Definition

Do you need a way to explain what materials are to your students? Here's a helpful definition from our teacher team that you can add to your lessons:

A material is a substance that is used to make an object. For example, a desk can be made from wood. Wood is the material.

Materials can come from nature, but they can also be man-made.