Taking apart a toy to see how it works
Design & Technology · Key Stage 2 · The School
Predict before you look
Before opening anything, predict what is inside: a motor, a spring, a battery holder, gears. Writing a prediction down first, before looking, is what turns opening a toy into a test of your understanding rather than just a look inside. A wrong prediction is often more useful than a right one.
Record as you go
Note each part as it is found, in order, with a quick sketch or a word or two: "spring, coiled, pushes lever". Trying to remember it all afterwards loses the order things were found in — and the order is often exactly what explains how the parts work together. A notebook nearby makes this far easier than trusting memory alone.
Explain the whole afterwards
Once every part is found, put them back together in words: what happens first, second, third, when the toy is switched on. A pile of correctly named parts is not the same as an explanation of how they work together — that step still has to happen at the end.
PREDICTION: a spring, some gears, maybe a lever. OPENING IT: a coiled metal spring is found first, wound by a key. Next, three gears of different sizes, meshed together. Last, a small lever that a cam pushes as the gears turn. EXPLAINING IT: winding the key stores energy in the spring. The spring turns the first gear. The gears slow that turning down. The cam turns the slowed rotation into the lever's tapping movement. Three separate parts, one connected story.