Can someone pls help me understand a grandchild’s project.

[VeryconfusedNana]

Hi there, I’ve name changed for this post due to family circumstances that mean I’m very much involved in the life of two of my grandchildren.

Today one of them has come home with a project to be done and I’m completely lost as to what’s needed. It’s to the extent I feel completely defeated and I could sit here and cry at how hopeless I feel.

Im ok with projects on the Romans and Vikings for eg but I’ve no imagination and I need to be able to see the kind of thing we’re supposed to be aiming for. There’s also the fact I’m just too embarrassed to ask the school for clarification, surely if they’re giving these projects to 7/8 year olds it really shouldn’t be beyond me at 66.

This is the brief -

Design and make a model of a futuristic travel machine which they should be able to talk about to the whole class.

Please try to re-use and recycle materials as much as possible.

The children should include a simple lever or linkage in their design, to either extend the wheels from inside the aircraft or a door opening. They will be shown how to do this in school.

My problem is that anything I’ve found on Twinkle for example isn’t a model. It’s let’s say a crocodiles mouth on a piece of A4 paper with a moving part from the lever/linkage. Is that the kind of thing being asked for but aeroplane related? Or is it supposed to be a model aeroplane made out of cardboard/a water bottle/toilet roll tube for eg?

I need to be one step ahead of my grandchild on this, not so I can do the work for them but there is more than likely a specific learning difference going on that complicates things.

Can someone please set this very embarrassed grandma on the right road with the project.

Thank you.

I remember doing something like this. My son used the wheel base of an old plastic toy and then like others outlined he built a ‘machine’ on top using boxes and bits and bobs. I think he had string which linked to another little set of wheels that sat inside the ‘machine’ and in his mind when the machine took someone into future time they then went out and about on the little wheels!

Design and make - he needs to make it yes.
You're massively overthinking it!

I'd be using plastic bottles or cardboard tubes and attaching levers using something like those gold paper fasteners(split pins) that we used to used for making puppets back in the day!

You are likely going to start with some sort of box or container. A tissue box, a milk carton, a toilet tissue roll. What gets used depends on the child’s idea for the project.

where we ran into trouble with these is that dd had visions of projects she lacked the skills to execute, but her ASD made her too stubborn to compromise. So we would have to get ahead of her and set parameters for the project beyond the general instructions provided by the teacher.

once the basic structure is built with the lever mechanism in place, then you break out the art supplies, miscellaneous items like kitchen foil, and things from the recycling bin to decorate.

In the nicest possible way, kids have better imaginations than pensioners!

Give them some paper and pens t design on, some recycling bits, string, glue, sticky tape, paints etc and let them do it on their own.

I would only help with eg cutting (if difficult or potentially dangerous) and helping to make the lever/pully if it's fiddly.

I bet they'll come up with something brilliant if you stand back and let them, OP.

I thought the same.

Pull together egg boxes, plastic drinks bottle, towel/toilet rolls, clothes pegs, cardboard box, tape, scissors, tin foil and see where his imagination leads him.

They want a 3d model, not a picture with pop up / lever bit.

The design part just means create it yourself, rather than copy something. They don't want a paper plan of whatever they make.

Something made out of a plastic bottle or a cereal box or something.

They'll have covered levers in school, probably with junk / cardboard / whatever. So your DGC will probably tell you they used a lolly stick or a paper clip or something, and they'll want to use the same thing to make the lever.

It doesn't actually have to look like anything particularly. So long as DGC can stand up and explain what their imagination sees it all as that's fine.

I used to give my kids free access to the recycling box and let them get on with it. That's the point.

I'd be using a pop bottle, elastic bands and chopsticks.

Another Nana here, special guardian to a 7 year-old and I too have been close to tears with homework (usually maths!) so you have my sympathy.

I sometimes feel very old and tired and that I'm letting my dgs down in lots of ways but I show him so much love and we have such fun together. And for whatever reason, you too have ended up having to be a huge part of your grandkids' lives and I bet you do a great job.

You've had good advice here but do speak to the class teacher - I'm sure you'll feel better afterwards. I've had to a few times! The pastoral team at dgs' school is very supportive too and they take the time to feed me coffee and biscuits and listen to my worries. I don't know if this is relevant to you but I'm also part of a kinship group (connected to Kinship charity) who are very supportive. Talk to people!

Just remember that whatever this flippin' time machine ends up looking like, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What's more important is that you love, care and provide stability for your dgs and they'll always remember that.

Thank you everyone. I’ve calmed down now and I’m seeing things more clearly and my thoughts are along the same lines as all of the above.

I don’t normally mind the projects, in fact I like doing them with my grandchild but I’m not artistic and I don’t have a good imagination. Viking’s and Romans are easy to research but futuristic??? Nope, I won’t even watch anything futuristic on TV. My mind just doesn’t go there. Oh and it is my grandchild who does the work.

Why do I need to be one step ahead of my grandchild? Well, there’s emerging neurodiversity involved which is why I referred to learning difference in my original post, and it means, all things considered, a whole lot more has to go into these things with regards to planning for eg.

Thank you.

I’ve just caught up with all of the posts and I to say thank you once again to everyone who has been so helpful and kind. 💐

And to the posters who are also on the SEN side of these projects as well as those who find themselves raising their grandchildren - ❤️

My son has autism so I get that

This. The homework/ project is meant for the child, not for the adults to get stressed over!

The keywords here are -
Futuristic
Travel
Machine
Wheels
Door
Lever/ linkage - school guidance
Recycle materials

You'll need to brainstorm ideas with the child.

Any shape is acceptable - "machine" leaves options wide open.
"Futuristic" means it doesn't have to be confined to a recognized form like an airplane or ship. In fact, I'd say it needs to look different from any familiar travel machine.

The creation will need wheels or a door (or flap of some sort). The lever or linkage element will be demonstrated and taught in school.

I'd start now to gather materials and tools - cardboard boxes and tubes, tin foil, wrapping paper, buttons or stickers, string, tape, strong glue, stapler, sharp scissors.

Then sit down with the child and brainstorm once he or she has been shown how the lever or linkage thing is to be constructed.

The child will need to have a narrative about the sort of travel machine they're imagining, where it will go, how it works, what fuel it uses, how many people will fit inside, can it fly, float, levitate, hover, become invisible, go under water, explore space, etc. If there are features like a cardboard tube periscope or wings, how are they useful? Can the wings flap or are they just for balance? If there are buttons along the side or top, what are they for? Where is the engine located? How do you steer this thing? Can the machine travel completely silently? Does it use radar or send out signals like a bat?

The important bits of this project are getting the lever/ linkage thing workable and the presentation to the class.

The appearance of the machine can be fancy or practical - but it should all be possible to describe to the class.

The kids will probably all be talking together about ideas, so just possible your grandchild will burst in the door ready to get going on this without much brainstorming. Push them to make the description as interesting and detailed as possible.

Home Ed SEN mum here, please try not to stress although it's not easy! I would go for a junk model approach here because although in theory it seems more complicated it's much easier to work with the lever aspect in something 3-D/physical than trying to do so with those A4 cut outs (we do not speak of those or origami in this house!!).
The joy is though that the "vehicle" can be anything because it's futuristic so your grandchild can use their imagination and isn't limited to a modern car or plane. The lever could also open a mouth type design which could be an entrance or for example drop skis/legs/feet instead of wheels or wings.

@VeryconfusedNana

Viking’s and Romans are easy to research but futuristic???

It's not a research task, it's an imagination task.

Just let them plan something on paper first and marvel at the absolutely bonkers and brilliant stuff that comes from their tiny minds.

It's not a research task, it's an imagination task

Yes. And that’s exactly my point.

Ahh we have just had a very similar project come home at half term but it was completed at school (I wonder if it's the same scheme the school are using!!)

My year 3 child had made a car thing out of recycling stuff and some wood dowling and was rabbiting on about levers. I think the point of it was to make a vehicle of some sort that had a moving part. So a door that opens or something that moves when you pull something else.

For example you could make a rocket ship from a milk cartoon and some toilet roll tubes your grandchild can add in the moving part in the way they have been taught in school - probably some lolly sticks sticking out somewhere or a door flap opening.

Just checked our parent information and the Design Technology scheme our school use is apparently called Kapow.

Its Junk modelling. think Blue Peter. washing up bottles adn toilet rolls stuck together. If you have poster paints or pva to mix with paint maybe paint it and paint windows on it. You could use foil to cover too.

Have a look at Thunderbirds models for a start, but the very basic idea would be a cylinder as a rocket with fins at the bottom and a door in it which opens to a ramp....

hi OP, you csn support the child but this is THEIR task. if you do all the work and thinking, it wont help.

OP I taught primary children for nearly 20 years and I would have hated to think that any parent or guardian felt embarrassed or hesitant to ask me something they weren’t sure of. Speak to the class teacher and don’t be embarrassed.

I’m now a parent of a primary aged child and the WhatsApp group is literally full of us all asking constant questions about what on earth the school/ teachers meant when they said x/y/z - I include myself in that by the way, there was some kind of book donation/ exchange scheme going on today for example that I couldn’t grasp the mechanics of no matter how many times I read the newsletter so I had to ask. Which is a long winded way of saying I bet a lot of the parents in the class are similarly baffled, and I bet there will be a significant proportion who do something entirely different to what’s being asked, or don’t bother at all.

You’ve had lots of helpful responses as to what the school are asking for, but please do clarify with the teacher if you’re still unsure. Also, with you mentioning potential SEN - when they are taught about levers in school, do you think your grandchild will be able to retain the information and then relay it to you/ apply it to this project? If not, that’s another point you absolutely should be raising with the teacher and asking if they can either explain it to you, or provide some kind of sheet or resource to help your grandchild recall the learning once at home.

Well it’s a good job that was never part of the plan then isn’t it.

Split pins are your friend here