Wheels Up!

The Year 1 children have embarked on an exciting journey of designing toy-cars using recycled materials, showing plenty of ingenuity and creativity. These young innovators have discovered the joy of repurposing everyday objects and transforming them into unique playtime vehicles - getting their skills ready for the upcoming Art Week!

During their first session, the children learned the basics of car design, starting with the creation of a chassis using a simple tissue roll. They then attached two barbeque skewers horizontally to the roll, forming a sturdy base. To complete their prototype, the budding engineers carefully fixed four wooden wheels to the skewers, resulting in a functional miniature car. Their eyes sparkled with excitement as they tested the prototypes, manoeuvring them along imaginary roads and tracks. (Little did they know that this first step would lay the foundation for their upcoming adventure in vehicle design.)

In the following session, armed with newfound knowledge and boundless creativity, the young designers were provided with an assortment of discarded items, or as we might call it, "junk." Old plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, bottle caps and various odds and ends were scattered across the tables, offering an endless array of possibilities.

With complete freedom to experiment, the children let their imaginations fly and let their inventive spirits soar. They meticulously assembled their unique vehicles, making use of the junk materials in innovative ways. The ‘workshop’ buzzed with excitement as each young designer brought their vision to life, cutting, glueing, and painting to personalise their creations. Some designs incorporated bottle cap wheels and plastic bottle bodies, others had old CD’s as wheels with carton boxes above plastic boxes which also acted as the chassis. Each toy-car highlighted its creator's unique stamp, reflecting their personality and engineering skills.

Throughout the process, the Year 1s learned essential lessons in problem-solving, collaboration and the value of recycling, discovering the importance of repurposing materials to reduce waste and preserve the environment.

At the end of the session, the children proudly presented their creations to each other, beaming with a sense of accomplishment. Their friends marvelled at the astounding diversity of designs that had come about from pieces of what used to be junk.

The toy-car design workshop proved to be an unforgettable experience for the young designers and engineers.The power of creativity and the unlimited potential residing within even the smallest hands is truly remarkable; innovation and inspiration know no age limits.