These one-line emergency DT lessons plans are intended to be used as a prompt when no planning has been left for you as a supply teacher. They are not intended to be replacements for full lesson plans, and no liability can be accepted by us if you decide to use them. They are mainly from the top of NuttySupplier's head.
Give the children a list of materials (e.g. paper, cling film, aluminim foil, wool, fur, wood, tissue, cardboard) and ask them to chart the properties first of all, then think of a product that can be packaged in that material, and finally think of a more suitable material for the packaging.
Sandwich Snacks
Focus on health and safety. Children to design a poster. Draw someone in the kitchen breaking all the rules, e.g. hair hanging down, unwashed hands, uncovered wounds and a cat sat at the far end of the chopping board watching.
Moving Monsters
Relate to human body. How do we move? List the moving parts and the direction in which they move. What helps us to move more easily? Are there children here who can move in ways which others can't (wiggle ears?) Can you design a moving human body? Label diagram with as much as you can. Ideally great big sheets of paper, draw round one of the children in each group, group work to label.
Photograph Frames
This unit looks at free-standing frames. Can the children find anything in the classroom which is free-standing? How are the chairs staying upright? The desks? Pencil pots? Classify as a group, 2 legs, 3, legs, wide base, pedastal etc.
Survey of fastenings on the children's shoes and clothes. Tally chart of findings. Children to look at each one in turn and decided positives/negatives on use of each one on a wallet/purse.
Storybooks
Children plan how they would turn (for example) Baa, Baa, Black Sheep into a pop-up book for younger children. Plan on a sheet of A4 folded into 4 or 8 as a storyboard for each line of the nursery rhyme. Children to label and describe moving part for each line.
Torches/Alarms/Lighting It Up
Children design a lighting or alarm system for a pet/zoo animal/other creature. How can it be made safe? Who will be able to control it (the animals?) Will it need a movement/light/noise sensor or timer on it? Produce plan on A4 paper, labelled clearly.
Design a musical garden for the school. If you were allowed to use any natural material, how would you plan it? Different lengths of branches for a wooden xylophone hanging below the bridge over the pond so the ducks could play it? Shells stung between the trees as on a washing line to catch the wind and whistle?
Bread/Biscuits
Focus on health and safety. Children to design a poster. Draw someone in the kitchen breaking all the rules, e.g. hair hanging down, unwashed hands, uncovered wounds and a cat sat at the far end of the chopping board watching.
Moving Toys
Think of an everyday toy with moving parts, imagine it made of different materials. Chart the advantages and disadvantages of it being created using different materials e.g. paper, cling film, aluminim foil, wool, fur, wood, tissue and cardboard.
Design on paper, a tent to be used in an unusual place. Maybe the ground is concrete and therefore you cannot use conventional pegs? Maybe the ground is continually moving (water?) and pegs cannot be used? Perhaps it is to be used in a very hot/cold place, so insulating materials need to be used? Perhaps it is for use near a vampire's lair, and so the material needs a regular infusion of garlic!
Slippers
Design a set of slippers for an animal. Why might they need slippers - injured feet/prevent infection/temperature change underfoot? With the purpose in mind, design the slippers thinking of size, warmth, safety and appearance. (Good plenary point: Do the animals care about the appearance?)
Fairground/Controllable Vehicles
Make a list of buildings which use devices such as electrical motors/levers/pulleys (hospitals, schools, bakeries, police stations, supermarkets). Choose one of these buildings and brainstorm all the ways in which the devices are used. Decide what sort of sensor the devices are activated by: light sensor, pressure pads, push button switches, time sensor, temperature sensor etc. Why are these sensors the best ones for the job? What would happen if the devices had their sensors swapped? Think of their own design for a fairground ride/controllable vehicle, and decide what sort of sensor would be best suited for their model.
