Activity sheets details

This is a list of activity sheets available from November 1995.
They are available in the following categories:

General sheets

An animal of your own: Encourages close observation of an animal, through drawing, thinking about scale and developing descriptive language.
Recommended age 3-9 (KS1)
I spy shapes and patterns: Looks closely at natural objects to discover the wide range of shapes and patterns that are evident in the natural world.
Recommended age 3-9 (KS1)
Exploring the Museum: Introduces the work of a museum, by using several exhibitions in the Life Galleries.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
Focus on fossils: Look at a range of fossils displayed in the Life Galleries. Children can consider the variety of fossils and the ways in which they are formed.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
Is it real?: Look at real specimens, models and videos in several exhibitions. Explains what you can learn about natural history from different display techniques.
Recommended age 7-14 (KS2/3)

British natural history

I spy minibeasts: Encourages children to look closely at a variety of minibeasts from different habitats.
Recommended age 5-11 (KS1/2)

Sorting 'creepy-crawlies': Discover the way in which the arthropods displayed in 'Creepy-crawlies' can be sorted into groups. Children can gradually build up a branching diagram to help them identify each group.
Recommended age 9-13 (KS2/3)

What did dinosaurs eat?: After completing this sheet children should be able to identify whether a dinosaur ate meat or plants simply by looking at its teeth.
Recommended age 5-11 (KS1+2)
Dinosaurs and their skeletons: Helps children to understand how skeletons relate to bodies, and that only the hard parts of dinosaurs are preserved as fossils.
Recommended age 5-11 (KS1+2)
Were dinosaurs like animals today?: Encourages children to think about how fossils remains can be interpreted by comparison with features of animals living today. Dinosaur bones, nests, horns and skin are contrasted with equivalents from contemporary animals.
Recommended age 9-13 (KS2/3)

A place to live: Starts in British natural history and examines a range of habitats where animals live and how they can be affected by changes in their environment.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
Food chains: Introduces children to the concept of food chains. Explores how plants and animals obtain the energy they need to live.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
Energy for living: Discover how plants use the sun's energy and how animals depend on energy stored in plants. Food chains, food webs and pyramids of energy are explored as ways of representing these relationships.
Recommended age 11-14 (KS3)
Ecology - piecing it together: Provides an overview of the main issues covered by the exhibition. These include the variety of ecosystems, food chains and webs, nutrient recycling, population dynamics and human impact on the environment.
Recommended age 14-16 (KS4)

Growing, changing and learning: Explains that living things are made of cells - each kind with a job to do. The example of sex cells leads into an explanation of human reproduction and development.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
How do you move?: Explores how muscles make you move, and looks at different types of joint, and the function of the skeleton.
Recommended age 7-11 (KS2)
Messages in your body: Describes how our brains collect and analyse information from our senses. Explains what hormones are and gives examples of their role in control.
Recommended age 11-14 (KS3)
Growing up: Looks at the structure and function of cells and the special function of eggs and sperm. Studies human growth and development in the womb and from child to adult.
Recommended age 11-14 (KS3)
All under control: Leads students through displays describing how the brain controls our actions. Explains what hormones are and describes the role of adrenalin in particular. Shows differences between nerves and hormones.
Recommended age 14-16 (KS4)

I spy bits and pieces: Focus on the similarities and differences between mammals by finding examples and completing drawings.
Recommended age 3-9 (KS1)

I spy rocks: Make close observations of rocks and how we use them, through drawing, thinking about measuring, and developing descriptive language.
Recommended age 3-9 (KS1)

Which are more like us?: Looks at similarities and differences in the main groups of hominids and leads children to realize which are most like us.
Recommended age 9-14 (KS2/3)
Our fossil relatives - hominids: Encourages children to use the evidence on display to make deductions about our fossil relatives.
Recommended age 11-16 (KS3/4)
Human evolution: Leads students to record detailed observations of the fossil material on display and explains the relationships between hominoid groups.
Recommended age 16-18(Study Guide)

What is a species?: Looks at the variety of life and how living things can be classified into species.
Recommended age 11-14 (KS3)
Survival of the fittest: Introduces young visitors to natural selection by explaining how Darwin's observations led him to the theory.
Recommended age 14-16 (KS4)
Origin of species: Explains Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection by leading young visitors through his observations. Provides a detailed record of a visit to the exhibition.
Recommended age 16-18(Study Guide)