Transport
Explore resource which look at various forms of transport, focussing on design, materials they are made from and how they move. Design and make cars, bikes, gliders, boats and rockets, whilst linking to science, literacy and D&T.
How Fast Should Your Buggy Be?
Children design and make a controllable, battery-powered toy vehicle using card, wood, found materials, mechanical and electrical components. The toy created can be based on an actual vehicle, on a vehicle from a book or film, or it can be a fantasy vehicle developed from the pupil's imagination.
Brompton Bicycle: Key Stage 1 Resources
Aimed at children ages 5-7, contains five design and technology projects that focus on bicycles. Children evaluate bicycle designs, then design and make: bicycle parts and accessories for characters from a book, teddy or for a particular purpose.
Primary Engineer: Bloodhound SSC Build a Prototype Car
Bloodhound SSC is a car being designed to travel at 1050mph by a British Team, aiming to break the world land speed record. In this resource from Primary Engineer, children design and build a prototype car to investigate the use of stored energy such as balloons and rubber bands, using easy to find resources and tools.
Children might, in response to the images and ideas they see, design and make their own prototype cars, using construction kits and junk modelling materials to build the fastest car they can. Choosing and using materials, aspects of aerodynamics, concerns about streamlining and the addition of nose cones to designs might all be investigated and the final cars tested competitively, in a race down a ramp and across the school hall floor.
Can It Fly?
Three activities with teachers notes aimed at Key Stage One linking forces and movement and D&T. Use a presentation and card activity to look at different animals and decide if they can fly. Investigate helium-filled balloons and make and test paper aeroplanes.
The activities look at:
Can it fly?
Children look at a range of items and suggest if they are able to fly or not using a presentation and a card sort activity.
Why do balloons fly?
Children investigate the lifting force produced by helium-filled balloons.
Paper aeroplanes
Children make and test-fly paper planes. This simple activity allows children to make paper planes and investigate different types of designs.
Background notes are included for teachers that introduce the concepts in the development of flight from hot-air balloons to powered aircraft.
Rocket Images and Video
NASA's Space Shuttle may be a well-known launch vehicle, but the majority of launches still take place using rockets. These regularly carry satellites into orbit. These materials show images of rockets, such as the Saturn V which powered the Apollo missions and current Delta and Atlas rockets. There is also a video showing the launch of a Delta rocket.
High Flyers: Building a Glider with Everyday Materials
Investigate materials and then design, make and test gliders in this activity linked to forces and flight.
How Will Your Roly Poly Move?
Explore,design and make moving toys in this project which combines D& T and science. Working in pairs children could ask predict how different toys will move and then test this out. Children could investigate which type of roly poly travels the fastest using a ramp or whether roly polys with bigger wheels travel further than those with smaller wheels.
Brompton Bicycle: Key Stage 2 Resources
Aimed at children aged 7-11 these five design and technology projects focus on bicycles. Providing many cross curricular links and opportunities to develop thinking skills, children are asked to: consider the needs of the rider, carry out research, communicate ideas, solve problems, work collaboratively and evaluate designs in light of the design brief.
Design a boat
Children use a variety of materials to construct a boat that will float. They then investigate what size of load their boats might be able to carry, potentially testing their creations to destruction, as they risk them sinking to the bottom of a water tank! This is part of a larger collection of resources linked to to the Polar Explorer Programme, the educational programme linked to the RRS Sir David Attenborough research vessel.
Floating boat challenge
In this floating boat challenge, children are to build a boat that can float and support 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds —without leaking, sinking, or tipping over. Each team has access to limited materials, e.g. some plastic wrap, plastic straws, paper cups, masking tape and 25 pennies. They then test their boats in a large water tank. The format of this resource may look quite wordy, but there are lots of photos showing possible boat designs using a variety of materials. Hopefully your class will come up with a lot more of their own creations.