Year 7 pupils designed and made some fabulous rocking toys for the Nursery

Year 7 pupils were set a challenge in their DT lessons of making a ride-on toy out of recycled materials for the Hazlegrove Nursery children.

They researched characters and vehicles that nursery age children like and came up with a few designs which they then modelled in card. We took the card models down to Nursery a few weeks ago for some feedback and were able to test the sizes were correct and check that the Nursery children liked the designs. When they were happy with the models, the Year 7 pupils set about making them by re-purposing old scaffolding boards. They used power tools such as a jigsaw, sander and power-drills. They then painted the toys and the rockers. Some of the sea effects on the rockers are absolutely fantastic! They worked so hard at making sure the finish was perfect and added features they thought would appeal to the Nursery children, such as stars and a tail on the rhino and eyelashes on the walrus! They finished it all off with a coat of yacht varnish to make the toys hardy and durable, and then assembled them together with the seats and handles on too.

The Year 7 children were delighted to take their toys down to Nursery and see them being enjoyed. It was such a valuable experience for them to see their hard work bring such joy and fun to their ‘client’. This was such a fun project and I am so incredible proud of the end result and how hard the Year 7 pupils have worked throughout the whole process. One of them said to me it’s the proudest he has ever felt seeing something he had made being enjoyed by someone else! The Year 7 children were kind and engaging with the Nursery children, encouraging them all to have a go.

Well done Year 7 - these rocking toys will be enjoyed by children for years to come.
Mrs Barton.

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