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Key Stage 1 DT

Lessons build on the Foundation Stage experience of investigating familiar objects and how they work and there is plenty of encouragement for your child come up with his or her own ideas for design. Drawing, modeling and making to bring these ideas to life will be central to teaching.

What will they learn?

By encouraging your child to talk about design -what they like and dislike from concept to creation - the teacher helps to build deeper knowledge and understanding of what they're doing and why they're doing it. At this stage your child will also very likely use ICT as part of their designing and making experience.

Your child will likely be covering all of these topics during this Key Stage:

  • How movement is created in pop-up books
  • How playground climbing frames are put together
  • How to design a nutritious and inviting fruit salad

Lesson examples

Teachers choose which topics to teach but typical lesson examples from some schools have included:

Year 1 pupils design a fruit salad to encourage children to eat more fruit. Their design is based on fruit properties, appearance, taste, smell and texture.

Year 1 & 2 pupils use multimedia software to create a presentation to tell younger children about the people who help them get to school. Working in teams, they are each given a specific responsibility in creating the presentation.

Year 2 pupils investigate how simple mechanisms can make moving pictures for use in storytelling activities. They then have a go at making their own simple levers and sliders.

Using a doll for a model Year 2 children design and make their own Joseph Coat of Many Colours. They explore single and repeat patterns on a variety of fabrics, and use computer-generated as well as paper patterns.

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Design and technology

Get ahead at home

  • Your child can practise design skills by, for example, cutting out pictures from old magazines or cards, and folding and manipulating paper to make moving pictures, or by using dough or plasticine to model their ideas
  • Create a ‘design box' by collecting useful objects into a plastic or cardboard box. Recycle stuff like empty egg boxes, pipe cleaner, lolly-pop sticks, elastic bands, cotton reels, bits of card and plastic. Include masking tape, hole punch and scissors. Your child can use these to create anything...  miniature playground frames and swings, houses, furniture or even alien beings!
  • Ask your child to look for examples of levers and sliders at home. Investigate how doors hang, flaps swing, drawers slide, buttons press and locks click. Encourage your child to be more aware of how things have been designed around the home for specific purposes and people
  • Ask your child how he or she might go about creating a fruit or vegetable salad or smoothie that is designed to look and taste great. Talk about the type of ‘treatment' different fruit and vegetables require before they can be eaten (such as washing, cooking and peeling). Encourage sensory vocabulary. Ask: what do the different fruit and vegetables feel and taste like, how can you use this to group them, how can you use their colours to present them in an attractive way?