🔍 2025 Science Week Activity Pack
Theme: “Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language”
 
Explore, wonder and investigate with our updated Science Week Activity Pack—designed for children aged Birth to 8 years and aligned with the 2025 National Science Week theme. This resource is full of play-based learning experiences that support children to decode the hidden messages in light, sound, patterns, energy and nature’s systems.
 
Every activity is hands-on, open-ended, and encourages scientific thinking through sensory play, movement, creativity, and exploration. This is just a selection of what’s included—the full pack is overflowing with even more ideas, resources, and inspiration. 
 
Includes a week program template and sample program!
 
👶 Birth–3 Years: Play-Based Discovery through the Senses
Nurture early scientific curiosity with gentle, sensory-rich activities that encourage babies and toddlers to observe, listen, and explore movement and sound.
 
Includes play-based experiences such as:
Pattern Pulse: Baby’s First Repetition Game – Introduces rhythm and repeated patterns using nature-based materials.
Bubble Gravity Play – Supports awareness of motion, cause and effect.
Listening to the Language of Wind – Engages children in natural movement and sound awareness.
Sky Maps for Babies – Encourages early symbolic thinking using star patterns and storytelling.
Light Pulse Shadows – Explores how light creates and changes shadows.
Rain Rhythm Ritual – Develops auditory awareness and weather patterns through water play.
Tree Code: Listening to Leaves – Introduces nature’s sound messages using leaves and branches.
🧠 These are just some of the many play-based ideas designed to support inquiry, sensory awareness, and early scientific thinking in the youngest learners.
 
🌿 3–5 Years: Active Exploration through Play
Designed for kindergartens and preschool rooms, this section supports children to experiment, question, and make sense of natural systems through hands-on exploration.
 
Just a few of the included activities:
Pattern Detectives – Children sort, observe, and arrange materials to find visual patterns.
Light Explorers – Investigates the properties of light, reflection, and colour mixing.
Invisible Forces Lab – A playful way to explore gravity, magnetism and push/pull.
Echo Tunnels and Whisper Codes – Encourages children to explore sound as a form of communication.
Leaf Language – Uncovers how nature uses symbols and patterns to share information.
Drip, Drop, Decode! – Demonstrates water flow and introduces ideas of direction and force.
Floating Signals – Message in Motion – Explores how movement and materials send messages.
Shadows as Universal Language – Supports non-verbal storytelling through light and shape.
💡 This is just a sample—many more open-ended, play-based science experiences are included to support curiosity and active learning.
 
🧬 5–8 Years: School-Aged STEM Through Play
For older children, the pack includes rich, hands-on science investigations that combine fun, inquiry, and challenge.
 
Explore ideas through activities like:
DNA Dance Patterns – Combines music, movement, and science to explore the patterns in life.
Quantum Movement Lab – A playful way to explore unpredictable motion and energy.
Earth Codes and Clay Glyphs – Encourages children to create their own symbol systems with natural materials.
Light Mazes and Laser Trails – Experiments with angles and how light changes direction.
Sky Signal Decoders – Uses light and colour as communication tools.
Star Story Mapping – Connects cultural astronomy and science through storytelling and art.
Gravity Racetrack – Explores speed, force and surface changes in a fun, challenge-based format.
Soundwave Science – Uses instruments and vibrations to explore how sound travels.
 
🔍 There’s more! This section includes even more play-based projects that invite school-aged children to think like scientists while staying grounded in creative, movement-based and sensory experiences.
 
🎨 Sensory Recipes & Science-Inspired Play
Your pack also includes a huge collection of sensory play experiences—designed to support science learning through touch, sound, movement, and experimentation.
 
Some highlights include:
Star Dust Sensory Jars – Explore swirling particles and motion.
Cracking Codes with Fizzy Rocks – Chemical reactions reveal hidden items.
Constellation Playdough Press – Use stars and shapes to create space-inspired impressions.
Invisible Ink Messages – Learn how heat reveals hidden writing.
Magnetic Mystery Tray – Discover invisible magnetic forces through guided play.
Quantum Colour Change Slime – Investigate heat-reactive changes with colour-changing materials.
Nature’s Ice Messages – Uncover frozen secrets using warm water and tools.
 
🌌 These experiences are open-ended, tactile and deeply engaging—helping children of all ages make sense of abstract science concepts through sensory learning.
 
🐾 Includes 2024 Theme: Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability
Also included is an entire section on last year’s theme, Species Survival. These activities remain relevant and include:
🌱 Eco doughs and natural clays
🦕 Fossil and dinosaur excavation play
🌊 Marine life and water cycle sensory setups
🌼 Rainforest and habitat awareness
🧼 Microplastics and clean water explorations
and lots more!
 
PLUS A SET OF LEARNING STORY PAGES TO DOCUMENT YOUR LEARNING
 
📚 Curriculum Links
Each activity is linked to:
EYLF V2.0
QKLG
VEYLDF
MTOP
National Quality Standards (including QAs 1, 2, 3, and 5)
 
✅ Why Educators Love This Resource
Fully updated for 2025 Science Week
Includes play-based learning for all ages
Culturally respectful with First Nations perspectives
Encourages STEM exploration through creative, sensory, and natural experiences
Easy to use, adaptable for group or individual learning
Safety tips, supervision notes, and developmental links provided
 
🧪 Make Science Week truly unforgettable
Download the Science Week Activity Pack today and start decoding the universe with children—through meaningful play, discovery, and wonder.