Exploring Materials: Glass and Plastic — Interactive Lesson (Year 2)

Why do we use plastic for a water bottle but glass for a jar of jam? This 25-slide interactive lesson explores glass and plastic materials by comparing their properties.

Exploring Glass and Plastic Materials in Year 2 Science

Children explore the properties and uses of glass and plastic, and conduct simple tests to understand their structure and characteristics. They learn that glass is hard, smooth and usually transparent, used for bottles, windows and jars, but fragile and can shatter, while plastic is light, strong, often flexible and used for bottles, bags and toys, without breaking as easily as glass. They also discover that glass does not conduct heat as well as metal, which is why glass cookware is unsuitable for very high-heat cooking, and learn how different jobs call for different materials.

What’s Included

• 25-slide interactive lesson on glass and plastic materials
• Learning objectives on exploring properties and conducting simple tests
• Glass: transparent, hard and fragile
• Plastic: light, strong and often flexible
• Sorting and fill-in-the-blank activities with instant feedback

Key Benefits for Students

• Builds understanding of materials through their properties
• Explains why glass is chosen for some jobs and plastic for others
• Links fragility and heat conduction to real uses
• Instant feedback on answer questions

Why Teachers Love It

• No prep — ready for whole-class teaching on an interactive whiteboard
• A structured lesson that can be split across sessions
• Self-marking questions support independent practice
• Suits small groups and whole-class sessions
• A dependable companion to a wider materials topic

Love this? You’ll love…

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A dependable addition to a Year 2 science topic, giving children a hands-on understanding of why materials are chosen for particular jobs. This pairs naturally with the wider identifying materials lesson for a full materials topic.

Explore materials with confidence — Add to Basket.

FAQs

What year group is this for?
Year 2 (ages 6–7), KS1.

Does it explain why glass is fragile?
Yes — including why it shatters and how it compares to plastic.

Is it self-marking?
Yes, with instant feedback on the questions.