Choosing objects and materials and making them work for desired ends come naturally to young children. Jane Drake explains how early years practitioners can encourage learning and prompt discoveries
We live in a rapidly changing world, with technology becoming more sophisticated and ideas ever more ambitious. Many of us lead busy lives and welcome any new gadgets which help us to perform tasks more efficiently or quickly. Our homes and furniture are built to fit in with lifestyle and clothes are designed to suit our wide range of needs - sports, leisure, outdoor wear. Food is prepared and packaged to cater for different dietary needs.
Children themselves become 'consumers' of design and technology at a very young age, often expressing their preferences, and their reasons for these, quite confidently - 'I don't like wearing those shoes because they are too hard to fasten'. In making comments such as these, they are already showing an awareness of design. If they are offered a choice, they are likely to select products with design features that suit their needs - for example, a pair of shoes with Velcro fastenings which can be put on quickly so as not to lose any playing time!
Children often show a keen interest in how things work or how they are made, asking questions such as 'What makes the wheels go round?' or 'What makes it stand up?' Time spent talking with children about why particular materials or techniques have been used and opportunities for looking closely at or dismantling objects, such as a mechanical clock or a cardboard box, will help them to understand the world around them and to prepare them for solving real-life problems.
If children are to become active 'designers' and 'makers', they need plenty of opportunities to explore materials. They also need to be taught how to use tools safely and be supported in practising skills and techniques. Crucially, they need a purpose for making and building. The practitioner has a role to play here in setting challenges, such as 'Can you build an outdoor shelter for the nursery teddy bear?' or 'Can you make a toy box big enough for all Kipper's toys?'
Although planned challenges can lead to good-quality learning experiences, the practitioner should also recognise and value the opportunities that occur spontaneously in children's play. These arise from children's own interests and will provide a very real context for learning. Take, for example, a group of children who are playing in the home corner and discover that the chairs around the table are all too low for the doll. They have found a 'real' purpose for designing and making, and their challenge is to produce a chair high enough to enable the doll to reach the table.
Of course, as their work progresses, they will be presented with all sorts of other problems which will need to be addressed - the legs aren't strong enough, the seat surface is too slippery. Sometimes it is not a matter of designing and making something from scratch, but of altering it to suit specific requirements. If it had been the case that the chair had been the correct height but that, unsupported, the doll repeatedly fell off the seat, the children may have decided to attach a strap to the chair to secure the doll.
Having decided on a solution to a problem, the next step is to think about how ideas will be realised. The children need to consider the suitability of materials, how they are going to cut, join and fix materials and the tools they will use. It is important for children to understand that there are no right or wrong answers here. Three children faced with the same challenge will probably produce three very different outcomes, but all three may be equally successful in achieving the objectives. It is also important for children to respect the ideas of others and to realise that sometimes pooling ideas and working collaboratively can be effective.
Permanent provision should be organised in a manner that enables children to access resources independently (although there may be the exception of some tools that practitioners prefer to be used only under adult supervision). The workshop is an obvious central place for many tools and materials, and indoor and outdoor, construction equipment is also a valuable resource. If they know where to find equipment, and how to use it, children can respond immediately to spontaneous challenges - to build, to experiment, to test and to go back and make improvements.
The thinking that takes place in children's minds throughout the designing and making should be valued as highly as the end result itself. Evaluation and modification are vital aspects of the design process. Children should have a 'safe' area to keep their work, so that they can return to it over a period of time, and all children should be taught that they can look at other children's work in this area but only touch it with their permission.
Jane Drake is a nursery teacher at Cottingley Primary School, Leeds, and the author of Planning Children's Play and Learning in the Foundation Stage (David Fulton, 14)
10 key points
Use these key points for discussion at staff meetings or with parents and carers:
1. How does your questioning focus and extend children's thinking and learning? Have you discussed the key vocabulary related to this area of learning, for example, names of equipment and techniques and comparative language?
2. Are children encouraged to look at and talk about design around them? Are they given opportunities to dismantle as well as to construct?
3. How can you raise parents' awareness of the importance of learning in this area?
4. Have you looked at designs in a range of cultures - for example, the use of chopsticks and knives and forks? Why, when the general purpose is the same (to aid eating), does the design of the utensils vary so much?
5. Do you plan time to spend with children teaching them how to use tools safely and effectively?
6. How do you encourage children to talk about their ideas and to discuss plans with other children?
7. Is the range of tools and materials wide enough and do children have sufficient exploratory experience to enable informed decisions and appropriate selections to be made?
8. Do the construction kits you provide help to develop a range of skills? Do they include cogs and wheels, interlocking bricks, connectors, screws and bolts?
9. How are children supported in the process of evaluation and modification?
10. Do you display children's own plans and drawings alongside, for example, architect's drawings and flat-pack furniture instructions?
Case study: Jennifer
Jennifer is just four years old and attends Cottingley Primary School nursery five mornings a week. Mum reports that at home she loves to build dens using any materials she can find, including sofa cushions, lengths of fabric and boxes.
Jennifer has spent some one-to-one time with nursery staff learning about the tools and materials available in the workshop and is now confident in using these to support her design projects around the nursery.
She was recently observed 'mending' a musical triangle. Having discovered that it was not producing its usual clear sound, she noticed that the string it was normally hung on had disappeared.
She went to the workshop and cut a length of wool which she threaded through the triangle. She then secured the two ends of the wool with masking tape to a wooden 'lolly' stick. As she struck the triangle again and heard the clear sound ringing out, she declared triumphantly 'It's better!'
On another occasion, Jennifer decided she wanted something to collect leaves in as she rode around the outdoor area on a bike. She found a cardboard box and tried in vain to make holes in it using a punch. She approached an adult and said 'It's too thick - can you make holes with these [scissors]?' She attached the box to her bike by threading string through the holes, then through the frame and, with support, tying the ends together.
At first this seemed to be a very effective 'trailer' and Jennifer spent much of the morning filling it with leaves. However, as the cardboard became wet and soggy, holes appeared and the leaves were no longer contained. One of the nursery members of staff talked to Jennifer about what had happened to her trailer and why. Together they looked at ways of overcoming the problem and eventually decided to sit the box in an old plastic tray as it was pulled along the ground. This seemed to be a satisfactory and durable solution and Jennifer was able to continue her leaf collection.