Science in Year 2: what Lärkompis practises
In Year 2 of Swedish school (around age 8), Lärkompis practises 18 skills in science (biology, physics and chemistry), linked to 39 of 39 items in the core content of Lgr22, the Swedish national curriculum, for Years 1–3. The areas are force and motion; body and health; materials and substances; nature through the year; and systematic investigations. Each skill has five difficulty levels, and the skills are practised in 5 mini-games, including Kunskapsjakten (Knowledge Hunt), Labbet (The Lab) and Vändspelet (The Flip Game).
Lgr22 sets out core content for each stage (Years 1–3), not for each year. So Lärkompis spreads the skills across the years using its own time windows, and these are estimates. For Year 2, this means that 7 skills start this year and 11 skills started earlier and are still being practised. The figure 39 of 39 counts the items in the core content from Skolverket (the Swedish National Agency for Education) that at least one skill links to; it does not mean the whole item is covered.
What Lärkompis practises in Year 2
The 18 skills in science in Year 2 are grouped into 5 areas following Skolverket's syllabus. Under each skill you can see the first and the last difficulty level, so you know how far the exercises go.
Force and motion
- Centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, plus harder guess-first questions.
- The bodies of the solar system and how they move, and humans in space Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, put five steps in order and answer harder guess-first questions.
Body and health
- Food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, plus harder guess-first questions.
- Some organs, their names and what they do Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, plus harder guess-first questions.
- Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose from three options. Level 5: Mixed, in all formats.
- Heat, light, sound, taste and smell through the senses, and reading a thermometer (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose the right body part from three options. Level 5: Mixed: thermometers, the senses and guess first.
Materials and substances
- Mixtures and how to separate them by filtering, evaporation and magnets Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, plus harder guess-first questions.
- Sorting materials by appearance, magnetism and whether they float, plus recycling (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: The right container from three options, with pictures. Level 5: Mixed: sorting, recycling and guess first.
- Forms of water: evaporation, boiling, condensation, melting and freezing Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, put five steps in order and answer harder guess-first questions.
- Ice, water and steam – melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation Level 1: Choose from three options. Level 5: Mixed, in all formats.
Nature through the year
- Seasons and months in the right order (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose from three options. Level 5: Mixed, in all formats.
- Animals, plants and trees in the local area Level 1: Questions with at most three clearly different options. Level 5: Match four question–answer pairs, plus mixed yes/no questions.
- Grouping animals, plants and fungi in the local area (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Animal, plant or fungus, with three options and a picture. Level 5: Mixed: sort six things and answer guess-first questions.
- Seasons, life cycles and how animals adapt to winter (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, put five steps in order and answer harder guess-first questions.
- Simple food chains in the woods and fields Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, put five steps in order and answer harder guess-first questions.
- Seasons, clouds, wind and precipitation Level 1: Questions with at most three clearly different options. Level 5: Match four question–answer pairs, plus mixed yes/no questions.
Systematic investigations
- Simple investigations: guess, test, observe and record (already starts in Year 1) Level 1: Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud. Level 5: Match five pairs, put five steps in order and answer harder guess-first questions.
- Stories of how scientific knowledge has developed Level 1: Who did what? Three options. Level 5: Match five pairs and put five discoveries in the order they happened.
What the syllabus says, in short
The Lgr22 core content for Years 1–3 in science, summarised in our own words for the parts Lärkompis practises in Year 2. Read the full text in Skolverket's English translation of Lgr22.
- The changing seasons, the life cycles of some animals and plants, and which animals, plants and fungi live near home.
- Simple food chains, meaning who eats whom in nature.
- The body and health, for example parts of the body, food, sleep and exercise.
- Force and motion, such as gravity, friction and how things balance.
- Materials and substances around us, for example how water freezes, melts and evaporates.
- Simple investigations and recording them with pictures and text.
How to help at home with science in Year 2
In Year 2, what your child learnt in Year 1 should become secure enough to use without support. Ask your child to explain how they thought: the explanation tells you more than the right answer, and it makes a good conversation at the dinner table. Ask curious questions (“why do you think that happens?”) and try small experiments at home, for example in the kitchen or on a walk.
- Better questions than “how was school?”. Try: “What was the most fun/hardest thing today?”, “What made you laugh?”, “Tell me something you learned that I don’t know.” Give it time and wait. Silence is an answer too. As a conversation: about 5 minutes.
- Pause when things boil over. Nobody learns anything in the heat of the moment. Say “let’s take a break: water and five minutes”. Come back with a smaller piece. Your relationship is worth more than the homework. When it is hard going: about 5 minutes.
- Offer choices within limits. Ask “do you want to do your homework before or after your snack?” instead of “sit down now”. Choices within limits strengthen a sense of control without the rules disappearing. As a conversation: about 5 minutes.
- Write to the teacher when homework isn’t working. If homework often takes an unreasonably long time, ends in tears or can’t be done without you, write a few lines about what happened. The school needs that information to be able to adapt. When it is hard going: about 5 minutes.
How you can tell it has clicked in Year 2
- Forms of water: evaporation, boiling, condensation, melting and freezing: Your child knows that water boils at 100 degrees and freezes at 0.
- Animals, plants and trees in the local area: Your child can name things we get from trees.
- Simple food chains in the woods and fields: Your child knows that worms and fungi turn dead leaves into soil.
- Seasons, clouds, wind and precipitation: Your child can say which months belong to each season.
Common pitfalls in Year 2
- Simple food chains in the woods and fields: Draws the arrow the wrong way, from the eater to the food.
- Seasons, clouds, wind and precipitation: Mixes up spring and autumn.
- The bodies of the solar system and how they move, and humans in space: Thinks the moon gives off its own light.
- Food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends: Sees brushing teeth as something you only do now and then.
If science practice in Year 2 often ends in tears or takes far too long, stop for the day and write a few lines to the teacher about what was hard. That is useful information for the school, not a failure.
Games that practise it
In Year 2 science, Lärkompis uses 5 mini-games. In these games, playing is the practice, so your child learns while they play. There are no points or streaks, and no ads.
Kunskapsjakten (Knowledge Hunt)
A quiz show in a TV studio, where Vera leads the questions up a ladder. There are lifelines but no points: the ladder fills up with the questions your child has worked through. In Year 2, the game practises 18 skills: centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play; food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends; some organs, their names and what they do; sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; and more.
Labbet (The Lab)
Guess first, then find out. The tasks are based on checked facts. In Year 2, the game practises 18 skills: centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play; food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends; some organs, their names and what they do; sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; and more.
Vändspelet (The Flip Game)
A memory game where two cards that go together stay face up, for example 3 + 4 and 7. In Year 2, the game practises 11 skills: centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play; food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends; some organs, their names and what they do; heat, light, sound, taste and smell through the senses, and reading a thermometer; and more.
Tidslinjen (The Timeline)
Your child puts cards on a line in the right order, for example events, steps or numbers. A card in the right place turns over and shows the answer. In Year 2, the game practises 8 skills: forms of water: evaporation, boiling, condensation, melting and freezing; seasons and months in the right order; seasons, life cycles and how animals adapt to winter; simple food chains in the woods and fields; and more.
Sorteringsbandet (The Sorting Belt)
A calm conveyor belt of things that your child puts in the right box by following a rule. In Year 2, the game practises 3 skills: mixtures and how to separate them by filtering, evaporation and magnets; sorting materials by appearance, magnetism and whether they float, plus recycling; and grouping animals, plants and fungi in the local area.
Questions about science in Year 2
What does Lärkompis practise in science in Year 2?
Lärkompis has 18 skills in science in Year 2, for example “Centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play”; “Food, sleep, hygiene, exercise and friends”; “Some organs, their names and what they do”; “Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch”; and “Heat, light, sound, taste and smell through the senses, and reading a thermometer”. Each skill has five levels. In “Centre of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction in play”, for example, level 1 is “Choose the right word from three options, with pictures and read-aloud” and level 5 is “Match five pairs, plus harder guess-first questions”. The app adjusts the level to how your child is doing.
What comes after Year 2 in science?
In Year 3, Lärkompis practises 14 skills in science, and new that year are “Mixtures and how to separate them by filtering, evaporation and magnets”; “Ice, water and steam – melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation”; and “Stories of how scientific knowledge has developed”. Most of it builds on what your child practised in Year 2.
Which mistakes are common in science in Year 2?
Common mistakes that Lärkompis covers include “Draws the arrow the wrong way, from the eater to the food” in “Simple food chains in the woods and fields” and “Mixes up spring and autumn” in “Seasons, clouds, wind and precipitation”. When an answer is wrong, the app shows how to think it through instead of just marking it wrong, and the parent panel shows what your child is practising right now.
Does Lärkompis follow Lgr22 in science in Year 2?
Yes. Every exercise in science in Year 2 is linked to an item in the Lgr22 core content for Years 1–3; 39 of 39 items in science (biology, physics and chemistry) have at least one linked skill. Lärkompis is a complement at home and does not replace teaching.
How much does it cost to practise science in Year 2 with Lärkompis?
Lärkompis costs SEK 49, once, for all subjects and every child in the family, with future updates included. You can try science in Year 2 for free first, without an account.
More years and subjects
The same year in other subjects:
