A Hands-On STEM Play & Engineering Kit

Created by Scientific Sue, whose interactive science shows inspire thousands of young scientists every year.

What happens when storytelling meets structural engineering?

In this interactive STEM theatre experience, children don’t just hear the story… they build it, test it, and engineer their way through it!

Inspired by Sue Carvell’s (Scientific Sue’s) live performances, The 3 Ingenious Pigs & Gale Force the Wolf transforms a familiar tale into a powerful exploration of forces, materials, design, and problem-solving.

Exclusive Access: The Ingenious Engineers Resource Hub

When you purchase this kit, you’re not just receiving materials — you’re unlocking a complete teaching experience.

You will be sent a secure password granting access to The Ingenious Engineers Resource Hub, your dedicated online support space for delivering the full STEM theatre experience with confidence.

Inside the Hub you’ll find:

• Full narrated script for easy classroom delivery
• Clear explanations of forces, materials and structures
• Step-by-step engineering challenge guidance
• Drama direction tips to engage every child
• Real-world housing comparison visuals
• Extension and differentiation ideas
• Curriculum mapping (UK & Ireland)
• Question prompts to deepen scientific thinking

Everything is designed to help you lead meaningful investigations — not just activities.

Full of experiments, facts, and fun ways to bring Science2Life!

What Children Will Do

• Act out the story using pig and wolf masks
• Test houses against “Gale Force” wind power
• Build and compare straw, stick, and brick structures
• Explore stability, strength, and structural design
• Create and use a working balloon pulley system to solve a dramatic rescue challenge
• Predict, test, improve, and redesign their builds

This is engineering thinking in action.

STEM Concepts Explored

• Pushes and pulls
• Effects of forces (starting, stopping, changing direction)
• Strong vs weak structures
• Materials and their properties
• Stability and foundations
• Simple machines (pulleys)
• Real-world housing comparisons

Perfect for linking to Forces & Energy, World Around Us, and cross-curricular drama and literacy objectives.

What’s Included

• Character masks (pigs and wolf)
• Story script for teacher-led narration
• House-building materials (straw, sticks, template guidance)
• Guidance for brick builds (LEGO® or similar)
• Pulley system activity instructions
• Teacher guide with STEM explanations and discussion prompts
• Real-world housing comparison notes
• Extension ideas for literacy, numeracy, and drama

Everything you need to bring the classroom story to life.

Designed for Teachers. Loved by Children.

Created by Sue Carvell — founder of Science2Life and former Guinness World Record holder for the Largest Practical Science Lesson — this kit blends:

Practical engineering
Creative drama
Scientific investigation
Cross-curricular learning

Full of experiments, facts, and fun ways to bring Science2Life!

The post STEM STORY: 3 Ingenious Pigs Engineering Kit appeared first on Science2Life.

Unleash your inner scientist! This set of 10 durable, hand-held magnifying glasses is perfect for young explorers, budding scientists, and curious minds. Each plastic magnifier offers 5× magnification—ideal for studying insects, plants, rocks, or reading fine print.

These brightly coloured tools (random selection of colours in each set) are fantastic for outdoor discovery, classroom STEM experiments, party bags, treasure hunts, and nature walks.

Perfect for:

• Science experiments at home or school

• Nature trails and bug hunting

• Kids’ party bags and activity packs

• Classroom sets or group activities

Lightweight, safe, and easy for small hands to hold
5× magnification
10 bright, colourful magnifiers per pack
Random colours – each set is a surprise!

Magnifying Flowers

 Mini Explorer Challenge!

Use your magnifying glass to explore the world around you! Complete the fun tasks below and become a true nature detective.

Your Explorer Tasks

• Find and draw 3 different leaves. Can you spot the veins?
• Look closely at a flower. What colours and shapes do you see?
• Spot a bug or insect. Draw it and describe what it’s doing.
• Examine a rock or pebble. What patterns or textures can you find?
• Use your magnifier to read tiny writing on a label or book.
• Look at your own fingerprints – what do they remind you of?

Explorer Sketch Zone

Can you draw what you see?

Sparks of imagination are at the heart of creativity!
– Scientific Sue      

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This Stirrup Pump with gauge is perfect for schools and teams to inflate numerous ball efficiently – but is also a great aid in the classroom.

Scientific Sue uses this pump for her Cloud in a Bottle Demonstration and her water rocket demonstrations.

Features an air pressure tank. spring clip valve lock, reinforced air hose and a fold down footplate.

• Quick and easy to use
• Standard size needle ( included)

In the Cloud in a Bottle demonstration, the students directly observe a cloud from right before their eyes – and when the bottle is connected back to the pump and the air pressure is increased they will see the cloud disappear!

Cloud formation is part of the water cycle, but one we usually cannot see up close.

A cloud is a large collection of very tiny water droplets or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air. When warm air rises carrying with it evaporated water, it expands and cools. Cool air cannot hold as much water vapour as warm air, so some of the vapour condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud.

This demonstration shows how water in the atmosphere can be made visible by changes in pressure and temperature.

Objectives

• Describe and illustrate the water cycle and associate parts of the cycle with weather conditions.
• Observe and describe changes to the properties of water when it is heated or cooled and associate these changes with weather conditions.

Materials

• Clean 2 L plastic bottle
• Cork with inflating needle 
• Stirrup or bicycle pump
• rubbing alcohol
• Safety Goggles

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Next best thing to a live show!

Enthusiastic, informative and interactive science shows delivered virtually – with pupil interactions built in!

Many of the items above are available in our online store!

When you book your Virtual Science Experience you will be:

• sent the show video (which has an introduction section tailored to your event). This can then be up-loaded onto your schools’ platform.
• sent a second video and pdf document at the same time – they give guidance on the interactive sections of the show (the parts Scientific Sue needs volunteers for) and on the hands-on workshop.
• posted the Experience Activity Box. This box contains the items and chemicals required for the interactive sections of the show and the subsequent hands-on workshop (for 30 children – want extra kits? Contact us before booking)

Scientific Sue would normally choose just one or two volunteers per sketch to help her out on stage during her live shows; this show is  virtual you, so you the teacher (facilitator), is now in charge of these sections of the activity. You will be guided to stop the video at certain points throughout the show. At these times:

1. You may stick to the programme and choose the number of volunteers Sue requests or
2. You can pause the video for longer and have extra helpers or
3. let ALL of your pupils do the experiment!

We love option 3! It is perfect for the classroom plus festivals, birthday parties and fun corporate events – This is the joy of not being constrained by a timetable built around an outreach programme which is not virtual.

We add the personal touch to your show video of choice!

Let us know about your event and the key messages you want your audience to be aware of. Scientific Sue will produce a short introduction video for you which will then be spliced into the video/s or your choice. Want your own introduction added? Just send us the clip via WeTransfer.

Your logo (plus other logos if the event is sponsored) will also be included.

Each ‘Virtual Experience Plus!’ activity comes with its own set of teaching notes and a short explanatory video for you the teacher (facilitator) on examples of how you can run the sessions as well as the virtual show video and accompanying interactivity box.

All of Science2Life’s STEAM ACADEMY workshops are designedto not only motivate and fire the spirit of discovery within children but also ignite curiosity in their minds.

Age Suitability: 6-13

Weather can be extreme, scary and devasting and the effects ofclimate change is just going make weather even scarier. No better topic for Scientific Sue to use her drama skills to entertain you!!

We all know about tornados but did you know fires can also spin! Join us to find out how fire tornados can be formed and why the Australian fire brigade call the eucalyptus tree ‘the gasoline tree’.

This show has given Scientific Sue a few engineering challenges too. Find out how a super flooding system, not fedby rain water but by Mentos (!) can be built. High winds and flooding can knock down bridges – sometimes these bridges are the life line for remote villages – volunteers will be needed to help build a pulley system out of balloons to help save the stranded villagers!

Something must be melting to cause the Earth’s water levels to rise. What is it? Thinking icebergs? Wrong!!

The consequences of any changes to our climate could lead tointense droughts, storms, heat waves and rising sea levels

– we don’t want to alarm you we want to scare you!

Scare you with crazy, innovative science demonstrations which will answer many questions about climate change but may also put your volunteer’s very existence in danger!

Warning: this show is at times educational however; it might occasionally be highly fictional. You should only partake if you want to enjoya creatively shocking but fun-filled experience!

Using pulley systems to save lives

The post VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE: THE DEVASTATINGLY DRAMATIC CLIMATE SHOW appeared first on Science2Life.

When the bottle is pressurised by pumping air into it, the air molecules collide with each other and warm the bottle and its contents. Releasing the pressure causes the water vapour to condense quickly, forming a cloud.

What’s in the kit?

• Cork stopper with inflation needle
• 70% Rubbing Alcohol

What you need:

• 1-2 L, PET bottle
• Stirrup pump
• Safety Glasses

Secrets for Success

• Using the atomiser bottle pump 5 squirts of rubbing alcohol into your PET bottle (label removed).
• Push in the cork stopper – the further it is pushed in the more air will be needed to be pumped in to build up a high enough pressure to push it out.
• Attach the pump to the inflation needle.
• Hold the bottle with the cork facing away from you. Make sure you have a clear space of at least 1 m in front of you – the cork will leave the bottle at a very high speed.
• Get your volunteer to stand beside you with one foot on the stirrup pump base. They then have to pull the handle to its maximum height and then push down as fast as they can until the bottle and cork separate.
• You will end up with a fantastic cloud in the bottle.

Science in a Nutshell

In this experiment we are mimicking the part of the Earth’s water cycle in which evaporated water (water vapour) cools and condenses, forming cloud as they connect with dust. In this demonstration the alcohol acts as the dust, providing something cool for water droplets to attach to.

When the bottle is pressurised by pumping air into it, the air molecules collide with each other and warm the bottle and its contents. Releasing the pressure causes the water vapour to condense quickly, forming a cloud.

Bonus: Reverse the experiment!

Before the cloud disappears, put the cork back in and pump a couple more times. The cloud will disappear as quickly as it came. Release the pressure, and the cloud will form again.

How do real clouds form?

Clouds require three things to form:

• Water molecules
• Cloud condensation nuclei – dust or air pollution
• Temperature or pressure changes

Water molecules are in the air all around us, even though we can’t normally see them. Normally, these water molecules bounce around.

Real clouds form when warm air rises in the atmosphere and cools down. Cloud condensation nuclei, such as small particles of dust and pollution, enable water molecules to stick together and stop bouncing around. The water molecules condense around the nuclei to form clouds. Clouds are just groups of tiny water droplets that stick together around cloud condensation nuclei when temperatures are low.

High- and low-pressure systems cause day-to-day changes in our weather.

Ascending and descending air

Areas of high and low pressure are caused by ascending and descending air. As air warms it ascends, leading to low pressure at the surface. As air cools it descends, leading to high pressure at the surface.

In general, low pressure leads to unsettled weather conditions and high pressure leads to settled weather conditions.

Anticyclone (high pressure)

In an anticyclone (high pressure) the winds tend to be light and blow in a clockwise direction (in the northern hemisphere). Also, the air is descending, which reduces the formation of cloud and leads to light winds and settled weather conditions.

Depression (low pressure)

In a depression (low pressure), air is rising and blows in an anticlockwise direction around the low (in the northern hemisphere). As it rises and cools, water vapour condenses to form clouds and perhaps precipitation. This is why the weather in a depression is often unsettled, there are usually weather fronts associated with depressions.

The post CLOUD IN A BOTTLE KIT appeared first on Science2Life.

What’s in the kit

Balloon Pulley System

• 4 doughnut balloons
• 6 long double-sided stickers
• 10 modelling balloons
• 4 small (5″) balloons
• 10 Water balloons
• 10 Small double-side stickers
• Small water pistol

What you need:

Example of show tray for the virtual experience

• Balloon pump
• Air zooka**
• Safety glasses
• Permanent pen
• 2 x trays for the water balloon parcels
• 6 paper/plastic cups

Secrets for Success

• Blow up the 4 doughnut balloons – These will make the two pulleys. The two balloons of the same colour are joined together by the double-sided stickers (3 stickers per set. Have spare sticky dots, stickers to hand).
• Blow up the four 5” balloons to a size that the children will be able to hold comfortably.
• Tie two of the model balloons to two of the 5” balloons. Thread the model balloons down the middle of the pair of doughnut balloons. If the model balloon isn’t long enough, add another – this one has to be removed before you tie the other 5” balloons to the model balloons to complete the 2 pulley units.
• When the small balloons are pulled apart the doughnut ‘pulley’ should spin on the stretched (uninflated) model balloon, when you give a downward tap.
• Depending on the size of your room, inflate 6 or 8 modelling balloons and join them together to form a loop – this will be the rope that goes over the 2 ‘pulleys’.
• Inflate 6 of the water balloons.
• You may want to write on each of them: food, water, medicine, etc.
• Put one small sticky tab on the bottom of the balloons – make sure the protective cover is removed on both ends of the tab – otherwise the balloons won’t stick to the balloon rope.
• To prevent them from sticking together and blowing away put them into the 6 paper cups – if the workshop option was purchased used the cups provided.

You will be guided on how to construct the pulley system by me in the video.

Fill your water pistol – if the one in the box isn’t big enough by all means add your own!

In the video I suggest that you the teacher use the water pistol, you will be the rain in the storm.

If you have an airzooka I will also guide you to choose a 5^th volunteer who will be the wind in the storm. Have them stand between 1-2 m away from the other volunteers. Guidance must be given not to release air into anyone’s eyes – safety googles are recommended.

Science in a Nutshell

A pulley is simply a collection of one or more wheels over which you loop a rope to make it easier to lift and/or move things.

ONE PULLEY SYSTEM

Pulleys are examples of what scientists call simple machine. That doesn’t mean they’re packed with engines and gears; it just means they help to make work easier for us and can even help us multiply forces. If you want to lift a really heavy weight, there is only so much force ore muscles can supply, even if you are extremely strong. However, by using a simple machine such as a pulley you can change the direction of the pulling force (and use gravity to help with the lift) and with increasing numbers of pulley wheels can effectively multiply the force your produces.

The more wheels you have, and the more times your loop the rope around them, the more you can lift.

One Wheel

If you have a single wheel and a rope, a pulley helps you reverse the direction of your lifting force.

So, as in the picture below, you pull the rope down to lift the weight up. If you want to lift something that weighs 100kg, you have to pull down with a force equivalent to 100kg, which is 1000N (newtons). If you want to raise the weight 1m into the air, you have to pull the loose end of the rope a total distance of 1m at the other end.

Two Wheels

Now if you add more wheels, and loop the rope around them, you can reduce the effort you need to lift the weight. Suppose you have two wheels and a rope looped around them, as

TWO WHEEL PULLEY SYSTEM

in the figure below. The 100kg mass (1000 newton weight) is now effectively supported by two sections of the same rope (the two strands on the left) instead of just one (ignoring the loose end of the rope you’re pulling with), and this means you can lift it by pulling with a force of just 500 newtons—half as much! That’s why we say a pulley with two wheels, and the rope wrapped around it this way, gives a mechanical advantage (ME) of two.

Mechanical advantage is a measurement of how much a simple-machine multiples a force. The bigger the mechanical advantage, the less force you need, but the greater the distance you have to use that force. The weight rises 1m, but now we have to pull the loose end of the rope twice as far (2m). How come? To make the weight rise 1m, you have to make the two sections of rope supporting it rise by 1m each. To do that, you have to pull the loose end of the rope 2m. Notice that we can also figure out the mechanical advantage by dividing the distance we have to pull the rope by the distance the weight moves.

A block and tackle is a cable system primarily found on cranes and boats that involves two pulleys and a cable or rope. The mechanism consists of one fixed pulley and one movable, usually hanging, pulley. A single rope is fixed to on or near the carriage of the fixed pulley, loops down and around the movable pulley, then back up and around the fixed pulley. A hook is attached to the underside of the movable pulley, and by tugging on the rope, the hook will lift or lower.

BLOCK AND TACKLE

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• 100 wood splints

The post WOOD SPLINTS pack 100 appeared first on Science2Life.

• Suitable for indoor and outdoor fun
• The Air Zooka operates by pulling and releasing the built-in elastic launcher
• The column of air can travel over 4 m!
• Use it to knock down paper cups
• Or remove Grandad’s toupee

The Air Zooka is a wind tunnel in miniature, trapping air in its conical rear quadrant and firing it forward with elastic speed for maximum disruption.

Ruffle someone’s hair or cloths, push papers off tables, spook someone as the turn the corner – the possibilities are endless.

Paired with a smoke machine, this air cannon will fire beautiful smoke rings!

The proper name for this concept is the vortex generator, because the rings that are being shot out of the Air Zooka are actually flat vortices of air.

How the air moves when leaving the Air Zooka

The circle shape is created because the air in the centre of the air zoom is exiting faster than the air around the rim of the air zooka – hence this toy can be used to illuminate Bernoulli’s principle which states: The faster the flow of air becomes, the lower the pressure air becomes.

Safety: Never fire the Air Zooka in anyone’s face (people or animals)

The post AIR ZOOKA appeared first on Science2Life.

A Science2Life Creation

From chaos to calm – make your own mini ‘snow’storm then we wowed by static magic!

A fantastic demonstration which can be used to visualise the fact that like charges push against each other and opposite charges pull together.

It is also a fun and creativity demonstration that can be used to help explain how lightning is formed in clouds!

TRANSPARENT LATEX BALLOONS 10 PACK with a small bag of polystyrene beads

The charged balloon is rubbed on hair, causing the polystyrene beads inside to stick to the rubbed areas due to static electricity.

• Size: 30 cm (12 inches)
• 10 pack
• Transparent balloons
• Made from natural rubber latex
• Bag of polystyrene beads

STATIC ELECTRICITY DEMONSTRATION

Secrets for Success

• A balloon pump must be used to inflate the balloons as there is too much moisture in our breath. Water prevents the build-up of static charge.
• Don’t over inflate the balloon – you don’t want it to explode.
• Store your latex balloons away from sunlight, preferably in an opaque container. Sunlight and ozone combine to oxidise the surface of the balloon which then weakens the balloon.

Science in a Nutshell

When insulating materials – in this case the latex balloon and the polystyrene beads – rub against each other, they may become electrically charged. Electrons, which are negatively charged, are pulled from one material on to the other. The material that gains electrons becomes negatively charged. The material that loses electrons is left with an overall positive charge.

The rubber balloon loses its electrons to the polystyrene beads.

Scientific Sue holds a charged balloon to demonstrate static electric forces during an Intel science event for students.

Like charges repel each other – this is why the polystyrene beads spread out on the inside surface of the balloon.

Opposite charges attract – this is why the polystyrene beads stick to the surface of the balloon.

When the balloon is rubbed on hair, charges move from the hair to the balloon. The balloon and the hair then have opposite charges. When you slowly lift the balloon away from the hair the electric force of attraction is strong enough to lift the hair.

The size of this force decreases with distance so as you keep moving the balloon away from the hair the hair will eventually drop. However, when you then bring the balloon closer to the head the hair will then spring back up!

We also sell a wonderfully magical toy called a wandarama which uses electrostatic pushing forces to get tinsel shapes to fly about the room like magic! Want to find our more? Click on link.

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