The Eurasian curlew is one of the UK’s most rapidly declining breeding birds. Numbers have fallen by more than 65% since the 1970s, placing it on the Red List of birds of conservation concern. The species requires an estimated 10,000 additional chicks to fledge each year simply to stabilise the UK population.
1 big pompom 1 small pompom 1 piece of fluffy fabric 2 googly eyes 2 lolly sticks glued together in a cross shape String 1 pair of scissors 1 piece of card Craft glue or hot glue
What to do:
Glue the small pompom (head), fluffy fabric (neck) and big pompom (body) together.
On your card, draw 2 feet, a beak and 2 wings for your chick.
Carefully cut out your drawings.
Glue your feet onto some pieces of string and tie them round the body.
Glue the google eyes and beak onto the head. Glue the wings onto the body.
Cut four pieces of string measuring about 30 cm each. You will need to trim these to the right lengths as you attach them to your puppet in steps 7 and 8. Glue a piece of string onto each end of the lolly stick cross.
Glue one string to the top of the head and the opposite string to the back of the body.
Glue one of the other strings to one foot, and the final string to the other foot.
All done! Your curlew chick puppet is ready to creep, stalk and dance!
Help protect real curlews
Curlews are disappearing from the UK countryside, but families and children can help. Find out why these amazing birds are in danger, meet the giant curlews taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks and discover simple ways to help protect them.
The Easter holidays are a wonderful time for family adventures, but they can also bring the familiar challenge of two whole weeks to fill with activities.
Parents often find themselves searching for Easter holiday activities for kids that are fun, educational and easy to set up. And when the weather turns rainy (as it often does in the UK!), screen-free activities become even more valuable.
If you’re looking for creative, science-inspired ways to keep children entertained this Easter, we’ve put together some brilliant ideas.
Why Screen-Free Activities Matter During the Holidays
School holidays often lead to a big increase in screen time. While digital entertainment can be useful in small doses, many families prefer to balance this with activities that encourage:
creativity
curiosity
problem-solving
family interaction
Hands-on activities, like experiments, crafts and puzzles, help children learn while they play. They also create moments families can enjoy together.
If you’re looking for an Easter gift idea that lasts longer than chocolate, the Whizz Pop Bang Family Activity Bundle is designed to keep children entertained throughout the holidays.
This special bundle includes four fantastic books and magazines packed with science, creativity and laughter.
Discover Whizz Pop Bang’s new family activity bundle
Inside you’ll find:
Whizz Pop Bang: Amazing Grazing
A fascinating science magazine exploring the surprising world of grasses. Children can investigate plant science, try hands-on experiments and discover amazing facts about nature.
Perfect for curious readers aged 6 to 12.
Hoopla: Deep Blue Sea
Our sister magazine Hoopla is designed for younger explorers aged 4 to 9.
In this ocean-themed issue, children can enjoy pirate games, creative crafts and fun ocean activities.
The Whizz Pop Bang Science Joke Book
With 200+ science jokes, this book is perfect for car journeys, rainy afternoons and family giggles around the table.
The Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book
A hands-on activity book with 30 creative projects to cut, stick and build, from flying machines to moving skeletons.
Why Families Love the Family Activity Bundle
Many families have children of different ages, which can make it tricky to find activities everyone enjoys. This bundle is designed with that in mind. It includes:
✔ Something for older children ✔ Something for younger siblings ✔ Science-based and creative activities to do together ✔ Jokes and puzzles the whole family can enjoy
It’s a wonderful way to bring science, creativity and laughter into the Easter holidays.
A Perfect Alternative to Chocolate Easter Gifts
Chocolate eggs are a classic Easter tradition – but they tend to disappear quickly! Many parents and grandparents are now looking for Easter gifts that inspire creativity and curiosity.
Give the gift of curiosity
A magazine or activity book can provide hours of discovery, making this bundle a thoughtful and lasting Easter surprise.
Easy Easter Holiday Activities to Try at Home
If you’re planning some simple Easter holiday activities, here are a few ideas to try with children:
Plant some seeds and watch them grow – it’s one of the easiest ways to see science in action in your own home or garden. Discover how to grow a grass pet here!
What are some screen-free Easter holiday activities for kids?
Hands-on activities such as science experiments, crafts, puzzles and creative projects are great screen-free options. Magazines and activity books can also provide structured activities children can enjoy independently or with family.
What is a good Easter gift for children besides chocolate?
Many families choose educational gifts like science magazines, activity books or craft kits. These gifts encourage curiosity and creativity while providing entertainment throughout the holidays.
What age is Whizz Pop Bang magazine for?
Whizz Pop Bang is designed for children aged 6–12 and is packed with experiments, puzzles and science stories.
What age is Hoopla magazine for?
Hoopla magazine is aimed at younger children aged 4–9 and focuses on creativity, crafts, nature and mindful activities.
It’s 10 years since astronaut Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station launched…
To celebrate, kids across the UK are invited to join in a lesson with Tim. Broadcast live from the Science Museum at 10:20 am on the 15th of December, it will feature a mass paper rocket launch to mark the exact moment (at 11:03) that Tim blasted off into space a decade ago! Ask your teacher or parent to sign up here.
or read the information and instructions here, then download the templates only afterwards.
Overview for adults
There’s an old saying: what goes up must come down. This activity is a perfect chance to challenge that idea, shooting a rocket high into the air by rapidly squashing a plastic bottle launcher. You’ll never get this rocket into space – but some real rockets do go fast enough to prove the saying wrong.
What’s the science?
The bottle used as the rocket launcher is not really empty: there is air inside it. Air is elastic (squashy), and when you compress it, it pushes back and the pressure inside increases. In the activity, the sudden increase in air pressure inside the bottle pushes hard on the bottom of the rocket, sending it flying high into the air. There are also two other forces acting on the rocket: air resistance and gravity. Air resistance always pushes in the opposite direction to the rocket’s movement, and its strength depends on the rocket’s shape and its speed. Gravity always pulls downwards, slowing the rocket’s climb but speeding up its descent.
Science in your world
Just as increasing the air pressure in the bottle sends the rocket flying, you use air pressure when you squeeze shampoo or ketchup from a plastic bottle. It’s not usually as exciting as watching the rocket shoot into the air in the activity… unless you’re having a food fight!
Did you know…?
In order to keep going straight upwards and never fall down again, a rocket must reach a speed called escape velocity, which is 11.2 kilometres per second.
Think and talk about…
• What makes your rocket fly? • What makes it come down again? • How do you think a real rocket works?
Investigate…
• How could you make your rocket travel higher? • How could you make your rocket go more slowly? • Can you make your rocket spin as it falls?
Science in your world
Just as increasing the air pressure in the bottle sends the rocket flying, you use air pressure when you squeeze shampoo or ketchup from a plastic bottle.
The fun begins as soon as you open the box. Press out then slot together 61 cardboard parts (no glue required!), add two elastic bands and you’ll soon have one fully working pinball machine. The build should take around 60 minutes and is suitable for engineers-in-training aged 8 and up.
Once it’s ready, load up the five swirly glass marbles and see if you can make them fly up the ramp, through the bumpers and round the vortex cone! Challenge your family to see who can get a high score on your very own DIY pinball machine!
This eco-friendly STEM kit is: ✅ Designed for ages 8+ ✅ Mess-free and fun to build ✅ Perfect for developing dexterity and reflex skills ✅ Made in the UK using high-quality sustainable cardboard
Whether you’re building it as a family project or battling it out for the best score, you’ll love every minute.
How to enter
To be in with a chance of winning one Build Your Own Pinball Machine kit, simply answer this question in the comments below:
Which of the below is a category of energy?
a) Kimchi b) Kindred c) Kinetic
This competition closes at midnight on 30th September 2025. One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries. For full terms and conditions, click here.
Are you looking for fun and simple British Science Week activities to celebrate this year’s theme, “Change and Adapt”? We’ve got you covered with a FREE science resource pack filled with hands-on experiments that your class will love!
Why ‘Change and Adapt’ is a Brilliant Theme
This year’s British Science Week theme encourages children to explore how things change in the world around them—whether through chemical reactions, forces, materials, or biological adaptation. It’s a fantastic opportunity to tie science into your curriculum in a way that’s engaging and memorable.
Free School Resources Pack – Throw A Science Party In Your Classroom!
To help you plan a curiousity-awakening, exciting (and most importantly, stress-free) British Science Week, we’ve got an amazing science freebie for you: a FREE ‘Science Party’ pack packed with six exciting experiments designed for KS1 and KS2. These hands-on activities will spark curiosity, encourage problem-solving, and bring science to life!
Each experiment explores the “Change and Adapt” theme through fun, interactive investigations that are easy to set up:
🟢 Making Chromatography Decorations – Explore how colours separate and create beautiful patterns! A perfect mix of art and science.
🔵 Bed of Pins Balloon Experiment – Discover how forces work by testing whether a balloon can survive being pressed against a bed of pins!
🟠 Fizz Pop Bang Edible Powder – Experience chemical reactions that you can taste!
🟣 Static Slime – Investigate static electricity while making an ooey-gooey slime that moves with an electric charge!
🟡 Magic Colour-Changing Icing – Learn about acid-base indicators in a fun and edible experiment that will leave your class amazed!
⚪ Incredible Invisible Ink – Uncover secret messages using simple kitchen ingredients—just like a real scientist (or spy)!
Each activity is easy to set up with minimal resources, making it perfect for busy teachers who want maximum impact with minimal prep!
Like all of Whizz Pop Bang’s science teaching resources, the science behind each activity is explained in simple, age-appropriate language, making planning and teaching these fun lessons an absolute breeze.
PLUS Here’s an Amazing Offer on School Subscriptions and Downloadable Resources!
Save 20% on our school subscriptions and downloadable resources for the first year as well as our school bundles. Simply add code SCIWEEK25 at check out.
British Science Week is the perfect opportunity to ignite a love for STEM in your classroom. Whether your pupils are experimenting with chemical changes, forces, or electricity, our Science Party Pack will keep them engaged and excited.
British Science Week 2025 is an exciting annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the UK. Taking place from 7th to 16th March 2025, this nationwide event features a variety of science activities, workshops, and events for children and adults alike. Whether you’re a budding scientist or simply curious about the world around you, there are plenty of ways to engage with science during this week-long festival.
How to Take Part in British Science Week 2025
Getting involved in British Science Week doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some easy and fun ways to explore science:
Try kitchen science experiments at home
Visit a science museum or exhibition
Attend a science talk or fair
Join a citizen science project
Enter the British Science Week poster competition
The goal of British Science Week is to spark curiosity and excitement about STEM subjects, making science accessible and enjoyable for all ages.
You don’t need a high-tech lab to explore science—many exciting hands-on experiments can be done using everyday household items. Simple ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring can lead to fascinating discoveries.
Science museums and exhibitions are packed with interactive displays and hands-on experiments, making them a great way to engage kids with science. During British Science Week, many museums and venues host special STEM events, workshops, and science shows. Find your local science centre here!
Looking for science events near you? Check out the What’s On in Science Week listings to find both in-person and virtual science activities happening from 7th-16th March.
The British Science Week poster competition is a fun challenge for children aged 3-18 years old. This year’s theme is “Change and Adapt”, and young scientists can submit creative posters for a chance to win all sorts of science prizes.
Submission deadline: 3rd April 2025
Encourage your child to showcase their creativity and love for science by entering the competition. Find out more here.
From DIY science experiments to museum visits and STEM competitions, there are so many ways to celebrate British Science Week 2025. Whether you explore science at home, attend an event, or take part in a citizen science project, it’s a fantastic opportunity to learn, discover, and have fun with science.
Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.
When cornflour is mixed with water, it becomes a goo that flows like a liquid until it is hit or pressed – then it acts like a solid. Watch the video below to find out what happens if cornflour is placed on a speaker that is vibrating and making sound waves.
The cornflour goo is getting continually hit by the vibrating speaker, making these weird and wonderful dancing cornflour figures!
This cornflour and water mixture is sometimes called oobleck, and you should definitely try playing with it at home! Here’s a recipe for how to make this slime-like substance…
You will need: Mixing bowl Spoon Cornflour or custard powder Water Food colouring (optional)
What you do: 1. Place four heaped tablespoons of cornflour or custard powder into a bowl. 2. Add a splash of water and stir the mixture. Keep adding water a little at a time, until the mixture is about the same consistency as honey. 3. If you add too much water, add some more cornflour or custard powder. 4. Add a little food colouring if you like and mix it in.
Watch the video to find out more about the strange properties of this special substance.
Spark their imagination with the Dino Discovery Bundle—a fantastic set of three dinosaur-packed magazines! This exciting collection of prehistoric puzzles, hands-on activities and fascinating facts will inspire any young dino fan.
Did you know that Whizz Pop Bang’s bargain bundles of back issues are a great way of giving the awesome science magazine for kids a try? Three issues – £14.99 (that’s just £4.99 per issue!) Six issues – £27.99 (that’s £4.66 just per issue!) Twelve issues – £49.99 (that’s just £4.16 per issue!) PLUS ALL PRICES INCLUDE FREE UK P&P!
🌟 What’s Inside the Dino Discovery Bundle?
Your young explorer will have the chance to make, discover, and investigate incredible prehistoric wonders!
🛠️ Make…
Encourage hands-on learning with fun dinosaur-themed activities that help kids explore the science behind these ancient creatures! 🦕 Fold a walking paper dino 🦕 Craft a pegosaurus 🦕 Bake sauropod footprint cookies 🦕 Erupt a fizzing volcano 🦕 Cut and stick a 3D T. rex that appears to follow you around! 🦕 Make a strata pot 🦕 Model replica teeth, bones and shells 🦕 Create a nodding stegosaurus 🦕 Fly a soaring pterosaur
🔍 Discover…
Your child will uncover mind-blowing dino facts, including: 🦕 The link between dinosaurs and birds 🦕 Did dinosaurs fart themselves to extinction? (Yes, really!) 🦕 Pterosaurs that were as big as aeroplanes 🦕 Dinos taller than houses 🦕 Terrifying sea predators that ruled prehistoric oceans 🦕 What life in the Cretaceous period might have been like
🧐 Investigate…
Your little scientist will dive into fascinating experiments, learning: 🦕 How pterosaur crests may have helped them fly 🦕 The science behind gliders and how they soar without engines 🦕 How asteroid and meteorite craters form 🦕 What happened to plants after the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs
More Exciting Science Bundles Available!
Looking for more educational fun? Explore our bargain magazine bundles packed with STEM experiments, space adventures, and prehistoric discoveries!
Whether your child is an aspiring scientist, a creative thinker, or an outdoor adventurer, this gift guide is filled with engaging, educational, and fun ideas that inspire curiosity, creativity, and exploration. These gifts are perfect for hands-on play, learning, investigating and creativity.
If you’re interested in eco-friendly gifts, you’re covered – you’ll find plenty of presents here that are printed using only paper from FSC/PEFC certified suppliers. That’s Christmas, sorted!
For Scientists-in-Training (Aged 6-12)
Nurture their love of discovery with these hands-on science gifts that are both fun and educational. They’re perfect for children who love to explore new ideas, solve puzzles, and embark on imaginative journeys.
Letterbox Lab – The Explore Box Suitable for explorers aged 6-12, each box is filled with exciting experiments that make science fun and accessible. All consumables needed for each experiment are included!
Letterbox Lab – The Investigate Box More advanced experiments for kids aged 8-12 who are ready to dive deeper into science, delivered to your door every month.
Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book Craft paper volcanoes, flying machines and more with this book of hands-on projects that blend science, creativity, and fun.
Whizz Pop Bang Science Scrapbook A creative space for young scientists to plan investigations and record results of experiments.
Space magazines Explore the Sun, Moon, Mars and the stars in this epic collection of space-themed science magazines.
Lab coat This science essential keeps clothes in tip-top condition during even the messiest experiments!
More Gifts We Love!
Dinosaur magazines From prehistoric flying beasts to the story of extinction, Whizz Pop Bang’s back issue collection is full of fact-packed reads for any wannabe palaeontologist.
Whizz Pop Bang Joke Book Get ready for some super science-y giggles, with over 200 hilarious jokes to get the whole family laughing out loud!
Hoopla: Secrets and Spies Tiptoe into the world of secrets, spies and codes! Design a fantastic face mask to hide your identity, make your own cipher wheel, cook treats with hidden messages inside and solve some safe-cracking puzzles. Head outside to look for nature clues as you make a beautiful wristband, plus there are riddles, jokes and a colouring page to enjoy.
Whizz Pop Bang Riddle Book Test their wit and problem-solving skills with this fun and engaging collection of over 150 tricky teasers.
Whizz Pop Bang Puzzle Book Jam-packed with more than 150 brilliant brain-bending puzzles, all with a science twist! With so many puzzles to get stuck into, it’s sure to keep your child busy for hours and hours!
Hoopla: Treasure Hunt Shine a light on glittering treasure! Grow your own edible crystals, craft a shining star and go on a treasure hunt! You can find out about shimmering goldfish and bake some delicious treats to give as a gift. Plus there are puzzles, jokes and a treasure-themed quiz.
Here’s a record you CAN try to beat at home. The farthest flight by a paper aeroplane made from a single sheet of A4 paper is 88.31 metres! Find out how to make another record-breaking plane here:
Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to skydive without a parachute?! Head this way for the answer (and to watch a jaw-dropping video all about it!)
Find out about more amazing record-breaking journeys in Whizz Pop Bang 113: FESTIVE SCIENCE FUN!
