Tinkering Days - Broomhill Infant School

Tinkering 2020-2021

We are so happy to be back at school and tinkering can return. We always start with Dengineers and each year the children work on different skills.

Term 1 – Tuesday 20th October – Dengineers

Ordinarily, we invite parents in and have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) ambassador visit to talk about their job. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have visitors in but Mr Hawkins interviewed his neighbour Rob who has an exciting job as lead engineer for an electric scooter company. The children watched the assembly in their classes. At the end of the day, Rob looked at photos of the dens and gave this feedback: ‘I liked the bubble wrap used as insulation on the ‘roof’ and the damp proof membrane on the ‘floor’ in the first photo, just like a real house! Some of them look really sturdy too, great for the windy weather we have had recently. I especially like the ones where an existing structure is being used to support the roof, that’s what I would call thinking outside the box!

Thanks Rob!

Reception

Reception have been learning the story of ‘Owl babies’ by Martin Waddell. They built dens for the owl babies. They had to think carefully about the materials that they needed and how big the owl den would need to be.

Year 1 and 2

Year 1 and 2 have been learning about recycling and the materials that can be recycled. They were set the task of creating eco-dens. Year 2 looked at dens and structures beforehand, giving them design ideas for the tinkering morning. First the children worked together to design their dens. After building them, they were judged on stability, comfort, creativity and eco-features. Fir class even had the twin sister of Miss W come to judge!

Term 2 – Bridge building

KS1
Being December, this project had a Christmas twist. When the children got to school the class Elf had a present to be delivered to Father Christmas. The problem was getting across the valley. The present was very heavy, weighing a whopping 1kg. The children had learnt about 4 types of bridges the previous day ( Beam, Suspension, Cantilever and Arch). They had to use their knowledge to design and build a bridge strong enough to carry the heavy load.
Once built, the bridges were judged on load bearing, stability, creativity and research. There were some fantastic engineering ideas. Once again, team work was the key to success!