Over the last two weeks of term, 4G tackled a tricky design problem. Using only recyclable materials they were asked to make a moving monster or character from the story ‘Where The Wild Things Are.’

We looked at models that moved in ways that didn’t involve electric motors and decided that we would try to make our models using a pneumatic or hydraulic system.
We would do this by attaching two (or three) syringes together with a length of tubing. The pressure formed by pushing one syringe in would push the other one(s) out and pulling the syringe out would pull the other one in again. That was the plan anyway!

We designed our models on paper then collected the materials we would need to make them. Throughout the making process we revisited and revised our designs to make improvements to our models.

When we were happy with the shape and the movements of our models - some had moving teeth, some had moving heads, some had moving arms, some had moving mouths and some had moving claws – we covered them in a layer of ‘papier mache’ to give the models a more natural look and to give us a clear surface to paint on.

Finally we got to paint are models and the bright acrylic paint made them look like very ‘Wild Things’ indeed (Well most of them! Khulood’s looked like a Friendly Wild Thing!).

When our models were finished we put on a show for some grade 1 children and teachers. We recreated the story of ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ with Max, his sailing boat(s) and of course the ‘Wild Things’.

When the show was over we took another close look at our models and our model designs and tried to evaluate what we had done and how we could make it better next time. Most of us agreed that our models were pretty spectacular and it would be difficult to improve them.