Science · Year 5

Active learning ideas

Infancy and Early Childhood

Active learning helps Year 5 students grasp the dynamic progression of infancy and early childhood, where physical, cognitive, and social changes intertwine. When students move, observe, and sequence real examples, abstract milestones become concrete and memorable, building both empathy and understanding.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• NC-KS2-Science-Y5-AIH-3

• 25–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Timeline Challenge
• 45 min · Small Groups

Timeline Build: Infancy Milestones

Provide card templates with ages from birth to five. In small groups, students research and draw one milestone per card, such as 'sitting up at 6 months,' then sequence them on a class timeline. Discuss influences like play on development.

What can a baby do at six months that a newborn cannot?

Facilitation Tip

During Timeline Build, provide real baby photos or short video clips to ground abstract ages in observable evidence.

What to look for

Present students with a list of actions (e.g., 'grasps finger', 'lifts head', 'walks independently', 'says first word'). Ask them to sort these actions into 'Newborn', 'Six Months', or 'One Year Old' categories and explain their reasoning for one placement.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Timeline Challenge
• 35 min · Pairs

Role-Play Relay: Growth Stages

Divide class into stations for ages 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-3 years, 3-5 years. Pairs act out typical movements and sounds at each, rotating stations. Peers record observations on clipboards for plenary share.

Describe three ways a child's body changes between the ages of one and five.

Facilitation Tip

In Role-Play Relay, set up clear stations with props so students physically experience the effort behind each milestone, such as using weighted wristbands to simulate early arm control.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine a child who could not practice walking or talking. How might their development be different from a child who has lots of opportunities to practice?' Facilitate a class discussion focusing on the role of experience.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Timeline Challenge
• 30 min · individual then pairs

Comparison Charts: Newborn vs Six Months

Hand out tables listing body parts and abilities. Individually, students fill in differences using videos or images, then pair up to add language and movement examples. Class votes on most surprising change.

How does a young child's ability to move and talk develop as they grow?

Facilitation Tip

For Comparison Charts, provide sentence stems on sentence strips to scaffold students’ observations and comparisons between newborn and six-month abilities.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a picture of a child at a different age (e.g., baby, toddler, preschooler). Ask them to write one sentence describing a key skill that child has developed and one skill they are likely to develop next.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Timeline Challenge
• 25 min · Whole Class

Milestone Matching Game: Whole Class

Prepare cards with photos/descriptions of milestones and matching ages. Students work whole class to match and sort into timelines on the floor, justifying choices with evidence from prior learning.

What can a baby do at six months that a newborn cannot?

Facilitation Tip

In Milestone Matching Game, use peer teaching by having students explain their matches to each other before revealing answers, reinforcing language and reasoning.

What to look for

Present students with a list of actions (e.g., 'grasps finger', 'lifts head', 'walks independently', 'says first word'). Ask them to sort these actions into 'Newborn', 'Six Months', or 'One Year Old' categories and explain their reasoning for one placement.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should connect abstract milestones to concrete, observable actions students can perform or witness. Avoid teaching isolated facts; instead, use movement and discussion to show how motor, language, and social skills develop together. Research shows that when students physically act out stages, neural pathways strengthen, making abstract timelines meaningful. Keep activities grounded in real examples to counter oversimplified views of development.

At the end of these activities, students will confidently describe key milestones, recognize the range of normal variation, and explain how practice and experience drive development. They will use evidence from their own observations and role-play to support their ideas.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Timeline Build, watch for students who assume all milestones happen at the same age for every child.

  During Timeline Build, have students plot multiple real examples on the same timeline to reveal ranges, then facilitate a discussion where students explain why some babies roll over at 4 months and others at 6 months.

• During Role-Play Relay, watch for students who believe growth is only about getting taller.

  During Role-Play Relay, pause after each station to ask students to name both a movement and a sound or word they observed, making explicit the link between motor and language development.

• During Milestone Matching Game, watch for students who think milestones happen suddenly overnight.

  During Milestone Matching Game, ask students to sequence matched pairs in order of difficulty, then discuss how each skill builds gradually through practice over weeks or months.

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Methods used in this brief

• Timeline Challenge