As part of Science Week, Year 2 pupils became engineers and scientists as they took part in the exciting "Crafty Rafts" challenge. Their task was to design and build a raft using only two sheets of paper or foil and a small amount of glue. The challenge was then to see how many marbles their raft could hold before it sank.

Before beginning, we learned about the forces of gravity and upthrust. We discovered that gravity pulls objects down towards the Earth, while upthrust is the force that helps objects float in water.

Designing and building our rafts!

Working in pairs, the children discussed which material would be best and carefully designed their rafts together. They shared ideas, chose their designs, crafted their rafts and made predictions about how many marbles their raft would hold.

Testing time....

It was then time to put the rafts to the test! Each team carefully floated their raft before adding marbles one at a time. We were amazed at how strong the paper rafts were, with many carrying far more weight than we had expected before finally sinking.

Reflecting on our scientific journey

After comparing our results, we reflected on our learning by creating science posters to showcase their findings. As part of our reflection, we thought about three key questions:

1. Which raft design held the most marbles?
2. Why did some rafts float for longer than others?
3. What could we change to make our raft even better next time?