Design Technology - Nightlights (Lower Key Stage 2)

Seasonal Tarts is a Design Technology unit of work aimed primarily at children aged 7-11
Design Brief: Design and make a nightlight for a child who is afraid of the dark.
The package provides the medium-term plan, six lessons (each lesson has a MS Powerpoint presentation). Any additional resources are provided as PDFs or as Powerpoint Presentations. This unit of work fulfils the National Curriculum (England) Design Technology requirements for this age group in the following strands of learning:

• Structures
• Electrical Systems
• Materials
  In this unit of work children design and make a nightlight product. This provides an opportunity to apply their knowledge and understanding of different structures and simple electrical circuits to create a product. Children learn about different lights in the home and that a product such as a nightlight is made up of three components – a stand, a shade and the electrical circuit. Children design and make a wooden frame, create a shade using papier mâché and then add a simple circuit with a switch to complete the product. They evaluate their product against the design brief and design specifications and use this information to create a marketing poster for the product.

This knowledge, skills and understanding is delivered through the following six sessions:

1. IDEA Task 1: Let there be light!
2. Focused Practical Task 1: Nightlight Designer
3. Design and Make Activity: Shade Maker
4. Design and Make Activity: Frame Maker
5. Design and Make Session: Putting it Together
6. Evaluation Session