Course guides › Grade 5 › Natural Sciences and Technology
Natural Sciences and Technology (NS and Tech) combines science and technology in one subject. In Grade 5 learners study animal skeletons and food chains, metals and processed materials, stored energy and electricity, and the Earth’s surface, rocks and fossils. Along the way they design and make simple models.
This guide follows the CAPS NS and Tech curriculum and the DBE’s 2026 Annual Teaching Plan for Grade 5 (circular S19 of 2025), and shows the key ideas with short examples. Our course is being built in this order, with Matthew as the guide.
Course status: coming soon. We are still building the Grade 5 Natural Sciences and Technology (CAPS) course, so it can’t be bought yet. This guide explains what the CAPS curriculum covers this year, so you can use it now. The planned price is R100 per subject per year.
What’s covered, term by term
Term 1: Life and Living, and Structures
- Plants and animals on Earth: variety and interdependence
- Animal skeletons: vertebrates and invertebrates; bones, joints and movement
- Skeletons as structures: frame and shell structures
- Food chains: producers and consumers; herbivores, carnivores and omnivores
- Life cycles of plants and animals
Term 2: Matter and Materials, and Processing
- Properties of metals and non-metals
- Uses of metals: conducting heat, magnetism and everyday metal objects
- Processing materials: combining materials (plaster of Paris, concrete) and traditional processing (weaving, clay)
- Processed materials: properties and uses
Term 3: Energy and Change, and Systems and Control
- Stored energy in fuels, including food; burning fuels needs heat and oxygen
- Fire safety in communities
- Energy and electricity: cells and batteries, mains electricity, safety with electricity
- Energy and movement: elastics and springs
Term 4: Planet Earth and Beyond
- How the Earth moves: a year is one orbit of the Sun, a day is one spin
- The Earth’s surface: rocks, soil and soil types (sandy, clay, loamy)
- Sedimentary rocks: how they form and how we use them
- Fossils: body and trace fossils, and South Africa’s fossil heritage
Key ideas, with worked examples
Vertebrates and invertebrates
Animals with a backbone are vertebrates; animals without one are invertebrates. A skeleton supports the body, protects organs and allows movement.
Worked example. A dog, a frog and a fish are vertebrates. A snail, a spider and an earthworm are invertebrates. The skull protects the brain; the ribs protect the heart and lungs.
Food chains
Energy flows from the Sun to plants (producers) and then to animals that eat them (consumers). Arrows point in the direction the energy goes.
Worked example. grass → zebra → lion. The grass is the producer, the zebra a herbivore and the lion a carnivore.
Metals
Metals are usually shiny, strong, bendable and good conductors of heat and electricity. Only some metals, such as iron and steel, are magnetic.
Worked example. Pots are made of metal because metal conducts heat to the food. A magnet picks up a steel paper clip but not an aluminium can.
A simple circuit
Electricity flows only around a complete loop: cell, wires, a switch and a bulb. Opening the switch breaks the loop.
Worked example. If the bulb won’t light, check that every connection touches and the cell isn’t flat.
Common mistakes (and how to fix them)
- Arrows the wrong way in food chains. They show where the energy goes, so they point from the food to the eater.
- Thinking all metals are magnetic. Copper, aluminium and gold are not.
- Mixing up rotation and revolution. Spin on its axis = one day; orbit around the Sun = one year.
- Treating an investigation as a guess. A fair test changes one thing only and keeps everything else the same.
- Unsafe experiments with fire or mains electricity. These are never done at home without an adult.
Tips for parents
- Little and often. Fifteen minutes on most school days works better than a long session once a week.
- Look for science at home: rust on a gate, a magnet on the fridge, the layers in a road cutting, a spider web.
- Do investigations together and safely. The course will mark each one with safety notes and a parent checklist.
- Draw it. Labelled diagrams of skeletons, food chains and circuits are what tests ask for.
- Visit a heritage site or museum such as the Cradle of Humankind if you can; Grade 5 fossils come to life there.
Frequently asked questions
Does it include the practical investigations?
Yes. Each investigation will be a “try at home” activity with safety notes and a parent checklist, and the quizzes will test predicting, fair testing and reading results.
Why isn’t “Systems for moving things” included?
The DBE’s 2026 Annual Teaching Plan for Grade 5 drops that Term 3 topic, so the course follows the newer plan.
How much will the Grade 5 Natural Sciences and Technology course cost?
R100 per subject per year once it opens. Like our live courses, it will be one course for the whole year with Terms 1 to 4 inside it, so there’s nothing extra to pay per term.
When will the course be ready?
We’re building it now. The Grade 5 Natural Sciences and Technology card on our home page shows “Coming soon” until the course is ready, and then it changes to “Open course”.
Will it work on a phone, and will it use a lot of data?
Yes, it will work on a phone. Like our live Maths courses, it will open in a phone’s web browser or in the free Coursebox app for Android and iPhone. Lessons are pictures and short text with quizzes and no videos, so it uses little data.
Is the course in English or Afrikaans?
The Grade 5 course will be in English.
Get ready for Grade 5 Natural Sciences and Technology
The Grade 5 Natural Sciences and Technology (CAPS) course is coming soon at R100 per subject per year. Bookmark this guide and use the term lists above to follow what your child is doing at school. While you wait, our Grade 5 Mathematics course is available through Coursebox.
Back to the Grade 5 course cards · All Grade 5 guides
Sources and review
This guide is based on the DBE’s CAPS Natural Sciences and Technology Grades 4–6 document, the 2026 Grade 5 NS and Tech teaching plan in circular S19 of 2025, and our course topic plan. Last reviewed: 31 October 2026. AI Buddies is an independent project and is not endorsed by the Department of Basic Education.