Design Technology - Crumble Nightlights (Upper Key Stage 2)

In this unit of work children using Crumble Kit components to design and make a night light that is controlled by a microcontroller and is activated when it gets dark.
Children learn about all the different ways in which lights are used in the home and they understand that a product such as a lamp can bee broken down into its component parts. As part of their learning, they re-activate their knowledge of using simple circuits to make a bulb light up. They learn about the purpose of nightlights and about their inventor – Abe Donsky. As part of this learning sequence, children can also learn about Thomas Edision.
Children are then taught about the different components of Crumble Kit and how they are controlled using block coding language. Children then apply they learnt knowledge and understanding to create nightlight that lights up when it gets dark using a light sensor to monitor the environment. The nightlight shade is made of recycled plastic and this needs to be considered when designing the nightlight.