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The upcoming unit for 2nd grade in my school is about natural resources. Students have to distinguish between natural and mandmade resources. What could be some fun, hands-on activities to help students learn this content?

I recently did a lesson on natural vs. manmade resources and started with the book Maple Tree to Syrup as my hook. Then I had the students close their eyes and pretend like they are outside and raise their hand to call out things they see (grass, swingset, slide, etc.) While they were listing the items, I wrote them on the board on either the left side for natural resources or the right side for manmade resources. When they opened their eyes, I asked them to find the similarities and differences between the two sides until they came to the conclusion that the left side was natural and the right side is manmade. We then made a foldable for them to put in their science notebook. Lastly, we talked about how natural resources can be made into manmade resources like in Maple Tree to Syrup so they thought of more items that started as a natural resource and were made into a manmade resource (their shirts started as a cotton plant, their papers started as a tree, etc.) Hope this helps!

I recently taught this lesson and I gave my students multiple items that they had to separate into to two different groups. One was for natural resources and the other was for man-made. Some of the items that I gave them were paperclip, coin, Lego block, small plant, twig, rock, glue stick, pencil, leaf, and seashell. Once the students separated the items I went over each item as a whole group. I found that my students really enjoyed doing this activity because I had them work in groups. I hope that this helps. Good Luck!!

You can take your class on a walk around the recess area and talk to them about what they see. They can categorize items and then draw it out on their journal. 

I'd do a scavenger hunt either outside or inside and have kids fill in the two categories of natural and human-made. You can also use old magazines to make collages of the two categories.