Design Technology - making pop-up books with a variety of mechanisms
In English lessons, Year One learnt the traditional story of Jack and the Beanstalk, and then made up their own variations of the story.
Later, the children were able to use their knowledge of this classic fairy tale, as the stimulus for their Design Technology project, when they designed and made their own pop up books about Jack and the Beanstalk.
To do create pop-up books, the children first had to do some research. They investigated lots of mechanisms used in pop-up books, and they learned how the different mechanisms made the parts of the book move in different ways.
The children practised making several different types of pop-up mechanism to develop their technical skills. They made sliders, pop-ups, flaps, wheels and levers. Afterwards, the children used all of these mechanisms to bring their own books to life. The sliders were used so Jack could take the cow to the market; flaps showed the beanstalk growing taller; wheels made the expression of Jack’s mum change from happy to angry, when Jack came back with beans; and the levers showed Jack jump off the giant’s table, when he stole the hen and harp. On the final page, the children used a whole range of mechanisms, on a single page, to show Jack’s mum chopping down the beanstalk.
The children loved making these highly, technical pop-up books and were able to take them home afterwards to share with their families. Perhaps they will be the product designers of the future?
