Comparing Natural vs Manmade Materials Gallery Walk

Build confident, curious scientists in your classroom with this printable Natural & Processed Materials Activity Pack. Designed for upper‑primary learners, this hands‑on resource helps students explore a wide range of materials—plastic, glass, wood, metal, fabric, rubber, paper, stone, wool, and leather—by observing real samples and analysing their properties, origins, and uses.

This station‑based activity encourages teamwork, close observation, and thoughtful discussion as students rotate through material stations and record their findings. It’s an engaging way to deepen understanding of how materials are sourced, why they’re chosen, and how people use them in everyday life.

Explore Materials and How They Were Used in the Past and Present

With this activity, students will rotate through ten material stations, each featuring a raw material sample (not finished products). Working in pairs, they examine each material closely and complete a structured graphic organiser that guides them to:

• Classify materials as natural or processed
• Identify historical uses and compare them to modern uses
• Describe important material properties such as strength, flexibility, absorbency, transparency, and durability
• Explain why people choose specific materials for certain products

The ten included station cards provide clear prompts, vocabulary, and guiding questions to help students stay focused and think scientifically as they move from station to station.

Download This Natural vs Processed Materials Activity

Your printable pack includes:

• Ten material station cards
• Student recording sheet

It is available as a PDF and as an editable Google Slides resource file. To get your copy, click the dropdown arrow on the download button and select your preferred file type.

This resource was created by Emma Eager, a teacher and Teach Starter collaborator.

More Natural vs Processed Materials Resources

Keep your materials unit going with additional resources such as:

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Mapping Mixed Materials Worksheets

Explore objects made of various materials and identify the properties that make them useful with a set of printable Mapping Mixed Materials Worksheets.

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Which Material is Best? Task Cards

Identify the materials needed to make things with our printable ‘Which Material is Best?’ task cards.