Everything around us is made of a material. A material is the stuff an object is made from. A spoon can be made of metal, wood or plastic. A window is made of glass. Your jumper might be made of wool or cotton.
Some materials come from nature, like wood from trees, wool from sheep and stone from the ground. Other materials are made by people, like plastic and glass. One object can be made of more than one material: a pencil has wood and graphite, and sometimes a rubber on the end.
Worked example
What is a cup made of if you can see through it and it breaks when it falls?
- See-through and breaks easily are clues.
- Glass is see-through and can break.
Answer:So the cup is made of glass.
Key words
- object
- a thing you can see and touch
- material
- what an object is made from
- natural
- comes from plants, animals or the ground
- man-made
- made by people from other materials
Practise this
New questions every time.
NGSS-referenced: 2-PS1-1