Just a toy?
Cardboard & Paper - Level 1
Overview
This project investigates toys, builds skills of cardboard construction and gives pupils the opportunity to make a toy for a friend.
We have included a range of exploration activities. They have been designed to promote curiosity and give pupils a sophisticated knowledge base with which to create their tinker time project. However, if time is short, please feel free to select the most appropriate activities for your pupils.
What makes a toy a toy?
Ask pupils to create a shared definition
Perhaps use a sentence starter: Toys can be …
If your pupils need more structure: Toys can be made out of ...
It would be helpful to have their ideas displayed so they can be refined throughout the exploration. They will also use this to help them with the tinker time activity.
What makes a good toy?
Ask pupils to find out about what sort of toys their classmates like most (and possibly least). This could be extended by asking pupils to create questions to find out what things are important about toys to their classmates.
Use the editable slide opposite. Can pupils think of more or different ways of asking these questions?
Ask pupils to represent their answers in a table, pictogram or tally chart.
Capture pupil responses to use in Tinker Time.
What sorts of toys are there?
Q1) Can you guess what toy was awarded the oldest toy prize by the National Toy Hall of Fame?
It was the stick! Other early toys were small stone and clay balls or marbles. Marbles were found in a child’s grave in Nagada, Egypt and date from 4000 BC.
Explain to pupils that children have always played with toys.
Thinking deeply ...
Have you read the picture book Stick Man?
Can you remember the different ways stickman was used as a toy?
Why might a stick be such a good toy?
How can we use toys to explore the past?
Children explore the world through playing with toys and they reflect what matters to us. We can learn a lot about the past by studying toys.
Q) What sorts of things we could learn about the past from toys?
Answers may include things like technology, materials and popular culture.
Pupils may also be able to suggest how toys might tell us about the values and beliefs of societies in the past.
Ask pupils to bring in a toy or game from home. Compare these toys with some pictures of Victorian toys. Ask pupils to find similarities and differences between their toys and the Victorian ones.
Bring in a collection of toys (or use the pictures, or a mixture) - can pupils speculate about which toy is the oldest and which is the newest? What clues did they use?
Paper rods & Cardboard construction
Use the resources below to build the skills pupils will need for tinker time. You may use these as whole class activities or enable pupils to use them to teach themselves and others. Who are your expert paper rod makers? Can they help others?
Cardboard types
Cardboard tools
Cardboard attachment (strength)
Cardboard attachment (Movement)
Exploratorium
This website has some great resources and the blog is perfect for developing skills in using cardboard
Can you make a great toy for your friend?
Use your ideas from exploration to think about different toys
To find out what makes a great toy, ask your friends about the toys they enjoy.
Use the techniques from the skill builder and the maker cycle to help you.
Essential
Carboard and paper
Cardboard cutters/scissors
Masking tape
(Optional)
Pipe cleaners
String
Craft materials and recyclables
Key Stage 1: National Curriculum links
Maths
interpret and construct simple pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and simple tables
ask and answer simple questions by counting the number of objects in each category and sorting the categories by quantity
ask and answer questions about totalling and comparing categorical data.
This project also makes connections to this topic in year 3.
History
Changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life
Science
Distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.
Design and technology
Design
design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
Make
select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing]
select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics
Evaluate
explore and evaluate a range of existing products
evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria
Technical knowledge
build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
Key Stage 2: National Curriculum links
Maths
Year 3 - Pupils should be taught to: interpret and present data using bar charts, pictograms and tables solve one-step and two-step questions [for example, ‘How many more?’ and ‘How many fewer?’] using information presented in scaled bar charts and pictograms and tables.
Year 4 - Pupils should be taught to: interpret and present discrete and continuous data using appropriate graphical methods, including bar charts and time graphs. solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs.
History
a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
Science
identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
Design and technology
Design
use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
Make
select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities
Evaluate
investigate and analyse a range of existing products
evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
Technical knowledge
apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
Useful websites and resources
Toys from the past at York Castle Museum
Resources and teacher notes with pictures of toys
1 minute clip showing Harrogate Toy Fair and some of the key changes from led and metal to plastic
Slot models
(level 1)
Pinterest inspiration
Slotted Cardboard Construction
(Level 1)
Video tutorial