Making Links Magician

Once upon a time at Devonshire Infant School there was a little girl sitting in class. She really enjoyed school, but today she felt worried. The teacher was explaining they were going to be doing a DT lesson. The little girl knew this subject was all about making things, which she really enjoyed. But she also knew it was about having ideas and designing a product. That was the bit she was worried about. She knew how to be like Creativity Kid in lots of other ways, but she just wasn’t sure she would have any ideas in DT!

The teacher explained that they were going to make a coat for a teddy. It sounded easy enough and the teacher explained they would be working in a team just like the Together Twins. The little girl liked the sound of that. She thought it might be easier if she could share someone else’s idea.

The teacher explained that not only did they need to design the coat but that they also needed to make sure it would be waterproof. The teacher was going to test the coat afterwards to check that it worked!

The little girl was in a group of 3. The other two children had lots of ideas about how to make the coat. They thought about how to cut it out and how to join all the bits together. The little girl felt worried.

She would help when it was time to make it, but she just couldn’t think of anything to say to help with the design. They had a look at all the materials they had been given. One of the children in the group said ”I think we should use this furry fabric. It will keep the teddy really warm”.

The other child said “I think we should use the blue card. It is nice and strong and a really lovely colour. It will definitely be the best thing to use”.

The little girl just sat there! She didn’t have any ideas. The other two children looked at her. She thought and thought. Then…….suddenly………she remembered something. Something she had learnt in a Science lesson a few weeks before! Something that could help them to design the perfect coat.

“Wait a minute. Do you remember when we tested different materials in Science a few weeks ago? The card and the furry fabric both absorbed water when we tested it. We can’t use either of those materials to make the coat, it won’t be waterproof!”

The other two children stopped what they were doing! “You’re right” they said. “We can’t use these materials”.

The little girl said “we need to use plastic. That was the most waterproof out of all the materials”.

The children agreed. They worked together to design and make the coat for their teddy out of plastic and were very pleased with themselves.

Soon it was time for the teacher to test the coats. Lots of the children had used card and fabric to make their coats. The teacher eventually came to the little girl’s group. “Can you tell me why you chose to use plastic?” the teacher asked. The little girl said “I remembered that it was the most waterproof material when we tested them in Science a few weeks ago” she said.

The teacher tested all the coats and of course the plastic coat that the little girl’s group had made was definitely the best! They had worked like Creativity Kid and the Together Twins to design and make it together, but what the teacher was most pleased about was that the children had remembered that plastic was waterproof and that this would be the best material to use.

“I am really impressed that you remembered the learning we did in Science and were able to make a link and use it to help you in DT. I am going to call you Making Links Magician” the teacher said.

From then on whenever the little girl was given a task that she wasn’t quite sure about she thought hard about whether there was something she already knew that would help her in her new learning and it often did!