KS2-Textiles
This list supports learning about textiles including projects to design and make party hats, samplers, a pair of winter shoe soles, designing seat covers, handle bar grips and clothes for cycling and cushion covers with 7–11 year-olds. There are lots of ideas for developing skills such as how to join textiles effectively, including sewing techniques through focussed practical tasks. Following on from from developing these skills, children are able to apply these techniques to the designs that they make. The resources provide opportunities to explore different types of textile projects looking at the materials products are made from, how they are joined together and how useful they are for the designed purpose. There are a range of authentic contexts for children to design, make and evaluate their own designs and made any modifications they feel are needed to make them suitable for the purpose and audience that they have been made for.
Will your party hat be funny or fantastic?
This resource provides a project where children design and make a decorated paper party hat to wear at a party they have helped to organise. The party can be held to celebrate a particular calendar event such as Christmas or Easter, the end of term, the beginning of summer, or to celebrate some aspect of learning that they have covered in the term.
Design and Technology KS1 / KS2: Sewing a mobile phone cover
This video may be used to support children in developing their sewing skills for different purposes,. It introduces some simple basic techniques: measuring, matching thread and material colour, the use of contrasting colours for design impact, and basic stitching. Teachers may wish to use it to support children in developing skills in needlework, which will help them when designing and making their own textiles projects in school.
Section Drawings
Different types of drawing are used to communicate different types of information. Section drawings are a type of 2D drawing that show the parts or features inside a product. In effect, a section drawing shows the view as if the product has been cut in half – most typically this is along the longer dimension of the product, such as its length. Section drawings are used to show what the inside of a product looks like and how the parts of a product fit together.
Producing a section drawing develops drawing skills, whilst simultaneously allowing concepts such as dimensions, proportion and scale to be introduced in a practical context.
In this activity learners will produce a section drawing of a safety helmet worn by cyclists, working in proportion and ideally to scale. This could be linked into making section drawings of parts of a bicycle or cycling accessories, even linking to the Brompton bicycle resources, which are next in this list.
Brompton Bicycle: Key Stage 2 Resources
This resource contains five design and technology projects that 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. The activities can be used as 'one-off’ sessions, an extended project or as part of a whole school design and technology week. Teacher’s notes are provided as well as worksheets on the five activities which are:
*Designing a bicycle - evaluate bicycle designs, then design bicycles for people with different needs
*Comfort - research and test materials as to their suitability for handlebar grips.
*Safety - design a sweatshirt for child to wear whilst cycling, considering safety, colour and style.
*Tyres - design a pattern for a tyre tread for a bicycle.
*Making an advertisement for a bicycle - design and make a television advert.
Cosy Toes: Winter-Proof a Pair of Shoes
This resource provides a cross-curricular design and technology and science project which applies ideas about thermal insulation. Using the context of the school class going to Greenland and forgetting all their shoes, children are asked to construct shoe soles that will insulate them as they take part in a dog-sled trip. Children learn about heat transfer, thermal conduction and investigate materials that are thermal insulators.
This activity could be adapted to a project on slippers, or the context changed to that of designing something to keep the feet warm in winter at home. This allows children to be less fixated on existing designs and to come up with creative solutions to the problem. If going down the slipper route, then children can analyse a range of existing slipper designs looking at the shape, textiles that they are made from, the way the slipper parts are joined together and who the slippers appeal to most eg children, older adults,. They can then design a slipper for a particular person or even a character from a book that they are reading, thinking about the needs of the person that they are designing it for. Children may or may not go on to make the slippers/foot coverings, this depends on how open the task is and how practical it is for them to make their designs.
Designing and Making with Textiles at Upper Key Stage Two: Design and Make a FabFix Repair Kit
In this unit, children design and make a useful resource for a home that meets all the family’s identified textile repair needs. The purpose of the task is to show the need to repair textiles when they become worn or damaged. The stimulus materials show how commercial products try to satisfy that need and lead to the children defining their own design criteria for a repair kit.
Designing and Making with Textiles at Lower Key Stage Two: Designing a Printed Cushion Cover
In this activity, children design and make a small printed cushion cover. The purpose of this activity is to explore the decorative use of lettering and pattern when
applied to fabric, and also to produce a useful item for the home.
Designing and Making with Textiles at Mid Key Stage Two: Fabulous Flowers
This is an activity linked to art, though it could as well link into learning about the parts of a flower in science. Children design and make a fabulous artificial flower from a range of materials such as card, paper, fabric, art straws, pipe cleaners. Each child's flower will be used in a class display of flowers. The flowers should provide visual stimulus and pleasure. It provides opportunities for skills development in cutting, measuring, fixing and hjoining parts together.
Beat it out
This STEM activity works to develop pupils' knowledge and understanding of sound by giving them the opportunity to make a drum using a range of materials, testing how each material affects the sound. Pupils will then have the chance to make a set of earmuffs using different materials, testing how well each material dampens the sound. This activity could be used as both a main activity to develop knowledge and understanding of how sound works, or as part of a wider scheme of learning focussed on sound and musical instruments.
Designing and Making with Textiles at Lower Key Stage Two: Designing a Simple Sampler
In this activity children design and make a 'simpler sampler' using fabric crayons and patterns derived from handwriting patterns. The purpose of the activity is to create modern samplers to display handwriting patterns. This could be linked to work on the Victorians, and will lead to comparisons between schoolwork then and now. Examples of samplers will help to generate the discussion.
Sewn circuits
A cross-over project which links to textiles and electrical systems. Children use conductive thread and LED's to create interesting items which light up.