Project ideas

How to use this section

This is not a quiz. Each question is the basis for a discussion and a larger piece of research. Each question can be used as a jump off point for a project and can be tailored to the age of your child. The questions can be used as ideas for group work with kids of different ages, as family projects or for a parent and child to use to spur other work. Here's a list – you can probably think of loads more.

Science

• Start a project on virus
• How do our bodies fight infection?
• Learn the Latin names for 5 things in the Garden
• Who was Carl Linnaeus and why was he important?
• Who was Gregor Mendel and what was his link with Charles Darwin?
• Who were Louis Pasteur, Isaac Newton, Marie Curie and James Watt?
• Why is Ada Lovelace considered to be the inventor of software? 
• Find out about female scientists that have been forgotten or overlooked in favour of men
• What was the space race? Who was the first man in space? Who was the first man on the moon?  Who was the second? Who was the first woman in space? 
• What is the Voyager Project?
• Watch the film Hidden Figures
• Listen to Series 2 of 13 Minutes to the Moon on BBC Sounds
• Start a project on holes
• Start to investigate what you can see in the gaps between the paving slabs
• Start a project on cranes. How do they get up tall buildings?
• Explore the maths behind roller coasters – older children/adults
• Start a project on dams: include construction, environment and types
• Learn the elements in the Periodic table
• Explore why dinosaurs died out
• What is the Beagle if it isn't a dog? Why was the Beagle important?

Sport

• Choose a football team to support from every league
• Choose a favourite team from every major sport: football cricket, basketball, NFL baseball, netball, Ice Hockey, Australian Rules Football. Decide who you are going to support and follow them online.
• Choose a sporting hero and research them. Tell your friends why. Learn how to use Powerpoint or Keynote.

History focused

• Learn the dates of major historic events
• What caused the dinosaurs to die out?
• Find out why the Romans invaded Britain
• What was the Battle of Hastings all about?
• What started the War of the Roses?
• Who was William Wallace?
• Why was Dunkirk so significant?
• Who was Franz Ferdinand before he was a pop group?
• Why did so many people die in WW1?
• Why is a tank called a tank?
• What was the significance of Gallipoli?
• What is camouflage and how did it start?
• What happened at Pearl Harbour?
• What was the Khmer Rouge? Was it a bad thing?
• What was the Long March and why was it significant?
• What are the thoughts of Chairman Mao and what is the Little Red Book?
• Why did America lose the Vietnam War? How has it defined the USA’s foreign policy?
• Who were Bob Dylan and Paul Hardcastle? Why were they significant musical artists?
• Why do we remember the Holocaust? Who was Ann Frank? What Happened at Colditz and Auschwitz? 
• In 1845 a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) spread rapidly throughout Ireland. Why was this significant for Ireland and the USA?
• What are the Black and Tans?
• What are the ‘Troubles”? What happened on Bloody Sunday? What happened at Enniskillen?
• Why do some people call Londonderry ‘Derry’? 

Popular Culture

• Why was punk rock important?
• Why did Americans burn disco records?
• More to come ....