Many schools are now moving towards a more creative curriculum and a topic approach in their teaching. Setting science in a real, meaningful context can capture children's imagination, while offering opportunities for teaching skills in maths, ICT, literacy, technology or art. In science, the teacher may know the expected outcome, but the children use creative thinking to discover for themselves in a purposeful way. For more than twenty years the Chemical Industry Education Centre (CIEC) Promoting Science, based at the University of York, has been producing creative, engaging resources to support teachers in working in this way, all of which are free to download from their website. Recently, some of the materials with an "industry" focus were explored by local primary schools. In this article, the author describes how activities from CIEC Promoting Science, set in real contexts, provide creative ideas for inspiring young scientists. (Contains 3 figures and 3 online resources.)