Design Technology

You can help your child with design technology by encouraging her to design and make things at home. This needn't involve a lot of expense or complicated equipment. Do remember to teach your child to work safely, and with adult supervision where necessary. Also remember that design technology teaches the skills of planning, evaluation and improving ones work as well as allowing children to explore the use of materials, processes and techniques.

  • Talk about objects and equipment you use around the house every day. Discuss how well they do their jobs. whether they look good and are reliable, and whether they make you want to use them. How could they be improved?

  • When your child's found a board game she enjoys (or perhaps one she doesn't!), suggest she use the pieces to make up one of her own. She'll need to test the rules, and perhaps eventually write them down. She could also make her own board and playing pieces.

  • Let your child cook, making sure he follows a recipe and measures and weighs the ingredients. Again, he could explore ways to change the recipe. Hold a family tasting session to decide what worked best and why.

  • Use construction toys like Lego and Meccano. Encourage your child to plan ahead, as well as just making things up as she goes along.

  • Teach your child to sew and knit. This could include embroidery and patchwork as well as making items like pencil cases. Consider buying a child's sewing machine. Older children can start to work from patterns. Remember to help your child to plan his work and to decide how well it came out afterwards.

  • Make models from card, boxes, balsa wood and other simple materials. Explore the use of glue, tape and pins to fix things together (older children can use tacks and a light hammer with adult supervision). Find ways of making moveable joints (eg, by making fabric hinges). You could copy famous buildings or vehicles (such as Big Ben or the Lunar Landing Module), or invent your own.

  • Explore flight by making paper aeroplanes, kites and gliders.

  • Explore floating and buoyancy by making boats and submarines.

  • Use batteries, torch bulbs and switches to explore electricity (you could use a kit to start you off if this seems daunting). Remember to emphasise the difference between safe exploration and using mains power.
Tessellation Crib Sheet

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