Curiosity: What’s Your Question?: 5 Brain-Boosting Classroom Activities for Science Week 2026
- natejrae92
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
British Science Week is fast approaching, and this year’s theme, Curiosity: What’s your question?, is a perfect fit for our brain experts at Braintastic! Science. After all, curiosity lives in the brain!
At Braintastic! Science, we love activities that don’t require expensive equipment, endless prep, or specialist knowledge. The best science lessons are often simple, practical and discussion-led, giving space for students to ask and answer questions about their amazing brains.
We've come up with five classroom-friendly Science Week activities. Each one starts with a question, encouraging investigation and follow-up discussions. They’re flexible, low-stress and designed to work in real classrooms with real timetables.
Kim’s Memory Game (KS2–3)
Time: 15 minutes
Starting question: How does my brain remember information?
How it works
Show your students a tray of 12 random items for 30 seconds, and ask them to memorise as many items as possible. Then cover the tray up and remove three items. Uncover the tray, and ask the students to work out which items are missing.
You can mix things up by:
Waiting longer before revealing the tray the second time (perhaps waiting until the end of the lesson)
Including more or fewer items on the tray
Adding a distraction task (like some tricky mental maths questions) before recall
Students will discover:
Short-term vs long-term memory
How attention and memory work together
Memory-boosting skills
Curiosity prompts
Why were some items easier to remember than others?
Why was it harder to remember the items when the distraction challenge was thrown in?
How could we improve our memory next time?
This is a great activity for showing students that forgetting isn’t failure – it’s part of how the brain works!
How we can help
Our interactive live shows Memory Games (KS2–3) and Mastering Memory (KS4) teach students how their brains store information, and how 'learning about learning' can help them at school and with revision.
Sense Swap Stations (KS1–2)
Time: 45 minutes
Starting question: How do my senses shape how I see the world?
Young learners love anything involving their senses, and this activity introduces the idea that the messages we get from our senses aren’t always completely true.
How it works
Set up simple stations that temporarily remove or alter one sense:
Feeling objects inside a “mystery bag” and guessing what they are
Identifying sounds with your eyes closed
Tasting foods (like different kinds of fruit) while holding your nose
Rotate students in small groups and ask them to describe what they think each object or experience is, and how confident they feel that they’re right.
What students discover
Without full sensory input, the brain often fills in the gaps and makes guesses. Students often feel surprised by how unsure they become when one sense is missing.
You can introduce ideas such as:
How our senses work together
Why illusions work
How the brain makes predictions
Curiosity prompts
Why were some of the challenges harder than I expected?
Which sense do I rely on most?
Can two people experience the same thing differently?
This activity helps to build early scientific language while staying fun and accessible.
How we can help
That's NonSense (KS2) is a fun, interactive show exploring the neuroscience of our senses – including a few you may not have heard of!
Emotion Charades (KS1–2)
Time: 20 minutes
Starting question: How can I tell what others are feeling?
Emotions are something children experience constantly, but don’t always fully understand. This activity introduces emotional psychology and empathy to younger children.
How it works
Create flash cards with different emotions written on them. Students take turns picking a card, then acting out the emotion on it using only facial expressions and body language (no words allowed). The rest of the class then guess the emotion and discus what clues they noticed.
You might include:
Basic emotions (happy, angry, scared)
More complex emotions (confused, proud, nervous)
What students discover
How we process emotions in the brain
Empathy and social understanding
Why misunderstandings happen
Curiosity prompts
Why did people guess different emotions?
Can the same face show more than one feeling?
How does the brain decide what someone else feels?
This is also a great cross-curricular link to PSHE and wellbeing.
How we can help
Your Resilient Brain (KS2–3) is a hands-on workshop that helps children gain a better understanding of their emotions and how to build a mental toolkit to protect their brains during difficult times.
Neuron Model Challenge (KS3–4)
Time: 1 hour
Big Question: How does my brain send messages?
Our brains contain 86 billion neurons, which send messages along chains called neural pathways. Creating one in the classroom encourages creative thinking and helps students understand how our brains communicate.
How it works
In groups, challenge students to imagine, plan, create, test and improve a Rube-Goldberg machine that can send a message from one end of the room to the other. Then, help the groups link their neurons into a giant brain-like network!
You can download a full lesson plan, including a presentation and worksheet, on our website – all for free!
What students discover
Students begin to understand that thinking, moving, and feeling are all the result of electrical and chemical signals.
Discussion points include:
Why neurons have different shapes
How learning changes the brain
Why practice strengthens connections
Curiosity prompts
How quickly do messages travel in the brain?
What happens when neurons don’t communicate properly?
Can my brain change over time?
This activity is ideal for building confidence with neuroscience vocabulary.
How can we help?
Our show, Hack Your Brain (KS3), explores how our brains send messages using neurons – and how we can use electricity to seize control of someone's (usually a teacher's) muscles!
Reaction Time Test (KS2–3)
Time: 20 minutes
Starting question: Why do people react at different speeds?
By challenging students to test their reflexes, they will not only learn about how their brains learn with practice, but will be introduced to designing and running basic scientific experiments.
How it works
Put the students into pairs or groups of three. They take it in turns to be the test subject and the experimenter. The subject will have an object (like a pen or ruler) placed in front of them. Instruct them to stand about an arm’s width away from the desk, with their arms by their side. When a whistle blows, they will grab the object as quickly as they can (but not before). The experimenter will time how quick they are with a stopwatch or tablet.
Students can test themselves multiple times and record their results. Older students can calculate averages or graph their data.
Try comparing:
Dominant vs non-dominant hand
Before and after a short movement break
Quiet vs noisy conditions
What students discover
No two results will be the same, which leads to questions about:
Attention and focus
Nerve pathways
Fatigue and alertness
Curiosity prompts
Why did I get faster the second time?
Why were some people faster than others?
What conditions made it harder to react quickly?
This is a fantastic way to show that psychology is experimental, measurable and scientific.
Remember: Let the Questions Lead
Science Week doesn’t need to be about perfect answers – it’s the questions themselves that are important!
Before, after and during each activity, encourage students to:
Write down their own questions
Discuss and search for their own answers, rather than simply expecting the teacher to answer for them
Notice how curiosity feels
When students realise that their questions matter, you’re not just teaching science – you’re building lifelong learners.
