HTML and CSS lesson 10: Your first CSS rules

US version. US grades and US spelling. · UK version of this lesson

CSS changes how a page looks. A rule is a selector, then { property: value; } – for example p { color: blue; } makes every paragraph blue. A complete 40-minute HTML and CSS lesson for beginners (Grades 6–7), from Unit 4: CSS: style rules. You build real web pages right here in your browser – nothing to install.

Time: 40 minutes + 20 min homework
Grade: Grades 6–7 (ages 11–12)
You need: A computer or tablet, paper and a pencil
Graded: Instantly, with explanations

For parents: how to use this lesson

You don't need to know HTML yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Babbage, our Head of Computing, likes it: a worked example first, then a go for your child. When your child builds a page, the browser draws it straight away and Classfern grades it with a checklist.

Read what your child will learn together.
Press Start the lesson below. Sit with your child for the teaching and the worked example (about 15 minutes): ask them to point at each tag and say what it does.
Let them do the practice on their own. If a page doesn't look right, the checklist says what is missing – let them find the mistake before you help.
Finish with the exit questions and the talk question: “Why might a browser ignore CSS mistakes instead of stopping the page?”
Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.

Watch out for

colour works on UK websites. CSS is the same everywhere: color.
A CSS mistake shows an error message. The browser silently skips it.

Miss Lovelace's tip for home: ask your child to change one thing on their page – a word, a color, a size – and predict what will happen before they look. Predicting first is how programmers learn fastest.

What your child will learn

Learning goal: write a CSS rule in a <style> tag.

Success looks like

I can write a CSS rule in a <style> tag.
I can name the selector, property and value.
I can find and fix a CSS spelling or punctuation mistake.

Key words

CSS · rule · selector · property · value · declaration · style tag

What to have ready

A device with a web browser (pages are built and checked right in the browser – nothing to install)
Paper for planning and sketching
A keyboard helps for typing code (a tablet works too)

The big ideas (for the adult)

HTML says what things ARE; CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) says how they LOOK. CSS rules go inside a <style> tag in the <head>.

A rule has a selector, which picks the elements (p means every paragraph), then curly brackets holding declarations: a property, a colon, a value and a semicolon – color: blue;. When two rules set the same thing and are equally specific, the later one wins.

The big trap: CSS always uses American spelling. colour: red; and text-align: centre; are silently IGNORED – no error, nothing happens. A missing colon or semicolon is ignored the same way, so when a change doesn't show up, read your rule letter by letter.

Worked example: two rules

CSS:

h1 { color: navy; }
p { color: green; }

HTML:

<h1>Hello</h1>
<p>Some text.</p>

The lesson, step by step

40 minutes in 5 parts
Part	Time	How it is checked
Starter	5 min	Graded by Classfern
Learn	8 min	Read, watch and talk
See it	7 min	Graded by Classfern
Practice	15 min	Graded by Classfern
Check and reflect	5 min	Graded by Classfern + self-check

The lesson

It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – nothing you type is sent anywhere. Each visit picks a new mix of questions.

Homework

20 minutes: predict what the browser will do, build or fix a short page, and check the key ideas – then a short reflection. New questions every time, all graded instantly.

Practice tests

All computer science practice tests · All 20 HTML and CSS lessons

Curriculum

CSTA K–12 Computer Science Standards (2017), grades 6–8: 2-AP-17 – Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases.

The standard codes are CSTA's; the descriptions are our own words.

Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board. HTML and CSS are open web standards; Classfern is not affiliated with the organisations that publish them.