This term in Design Technology, Year Two have been designing, making and evaluating their own toy fire engines.
The children learned about an incredible inventor – Lonnie Johnson. Did you know, he invented the super soaker water gun?
First, the children looked at some examples of toy fire engines. They explored the different features of the toys including lights, sounds and moving parts. They then identified which toys they liked best, giving reasons for their choices.
Next, the children created their own designs. They thought about how they could add a winding mechanism to their vehicles to enable the ladder to be raised and lowered as well as thinking carefully about what they wanted the body of their fire engine to look like.
Now it was time to make the fire engines. The boys and girls started by assembling the chassis. They found this task quite challenging but they persevered and found that, by working together, they could all successfully build the chassis. They then added axles and wheels. Once the chassis was complete, it was time to decorate the body of their vehicles. The children used coloured paper and string to add windows, lights and even a hose to their fire engines. They then attached the body to the chassis before making the winding mechanism.
Finally, the children evaluated their work against their design brief and identified what they had found challenging. The children were all very proud of their toy fire engines and were very excited to be able to play with a toy they had designed and made themselves!
