This week in DT we have been exploring the concept and features of structures and the stability of different shapes. The children enjoyed working with a piece of clay and manipulated it into different shapes such as a pyramid, sphere, cuboid and cylinder to test their stability. The children found out that the key features of a free standing structure are, a low height, a wide base and a flat base.
The children were given a challenge to make a cylindrical structure ensuring that it had good stability, strength and stiffness. They thought carefully about overlapping their paper to create stiffness which in turn improved the strength. We tested the stability and strength of the structures by placing books on top of the cylinders to see how many they could hold. I was really impressed how well the children did with this challenge and how stable their structures were.
The children also worked with a partner to make a chair using their knowledge of stability, strength and stiffness. They considered what their chair would look like, what colours would they use, would it have a back and how many legs would it have. This was a really tricky task, but the children showed brilliant resilience and worked so well together!
We had another lovely Hooks into Books session this week. Our story was Snowball by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. The children absolutely loved this story and were excited to take their book home to enjoy with their family. They also produced some lovely wintery art around the story too, I think you’ll agree that we have talented artists in Year 2! 🎨🖌