Imagine this: your lunch got wet in your bag after a rainy walk to school. Or an egg cracked on the way home from the shop. What went wrong?

If the job is keep lunch dry, which property matters most: soft, strong, or waterproof?

Designers keep inventing new materials so everyday jobs like these get easier.

Each group gets one job card: keep a sandwich dry, protect a fragile egg, or make a strong bag handle.

Talk for one minute. What does your job need the material to do? Which materials on the tray do you predict will work best, and why? Be ready to say your prediction aloud.

Your job card shows a first test you can try. Test at least three materials. Notice which properties help and which get in the way.

Starter ideas from your card:

• Keep a sandwich dry: cover a dry paper towel with the sample, spoon on the same small amount of water, wait the same short time, then check if the towel is damp.
• Protect a fragile egg: wrap the egg the same way each time and drop gently from the same low height onto a towel.
• Make a strong bag handle: fix each handle the same way on the card bag shell and add the same weights one at a time.

Sort your tested materials into groups that match your job. Use property labels such as waterproof, soaks water, strong, tears easily, soft and cushioning, or stiff.

Be ready to move one material and explain why its property fits or fails the job.