A practical activity where children safely observe fungal growth on soft fruit.

This terms articles include tips on making your own sherbet, growing microorganisms, chemical suppliers, teaching states of matter and advice about keeping bees in schools.

In this terms issue we outline some experiments to find out which bird food mixtures are best for hungry birds, review good practice for rearing chicks in light of bird flu and look at safe ways to introduce primary pupils to microorganisms. There is also an introduction to resources from the FSA that could could be an interesting way to introduce the topic of food allergies.

This summer we get creative with some colour chemistry, learn how to raise caterpillars and butterflies, dissect some owl pellets and learn how to work safely with micro-organisms. There's also details of some free CPD from the Getting Practical programme and some of the more interesting calls to the helpline.