ToyMakers.

Miss Lettice needed help…
 

On the first day of school, Miss Lettice was in a pickle! Whilst she was sorting out her new class room, she dropped a lot of games and all of the different pieces got muddled up. The children were a great help and agreed to help her put all the game pieces back with the correct game. They did this so quickly, and discovered that some of the games were unfamiliar to them… some of them were games people played in the past!

Let’s find out more about toys!

Year One were so excited about the games from the past, we decided to do some research. The children ventured around school, asking all of the grown ups the year they were born and they toy they liked to play with the most when they were small. Year one found it fascinating looking at all the images of the different toys the grownups spoke about. 
 

One day we walked into the classroom to find lots of different toys all over our tables. Some looked very old and some we recognised. After having a play, we decided to sort them into modern toys and old toys.

We found out that the material used to make toys has changed over time. Old fashioned toys were mainly made from wood, metal, tin or cloth, whilst more modern toys mainly use plastic. We have been looking at this in our writing and have been composing some excellent sentences.

Are all toys safe for everybody?

After exploring a variety of toys, the children noticed that some of the toys and games had very small parts, that might not be safe for smaller children or babies. We decided to investigate this further and see if there was anything on the boxes or toys that could help us identify who could play with this toy. Upon close inspection, the children noticed some numbers with a + next to them. We found out that this was the age you should be to play with that toy. The children were worried that small children might get hold of the wrong toy, so we discussed the words suitable and unsuitable and decided to sort a variety of toys in to suitable for babies and unsuitable for babies. The children felt very reassured that any small children would be safe with their toys. Great job Year One! 

If you go down to year one today, you’re sure of a big surprise! 
 

Everybody loves teddies! We had a marvellous time at our teddy bear picnic, despite the rain meaning it had to stay inside. They children enjoyed a drink, biscuit and a chat with their friends and teddies. We discussed why our teddies are special and why we love them so much. Some children even noticed the material their teddies are made from was similar to that of some old fashioned toys! 
We loved hearing and singing along to the teddy bear picnic song and had a little dance with our bouncy, beautiful bears…

We had a look at some bear books during our picnic and discussed what we liked most about them. Miss Lettice loved the books that had used alliteration in the title! The children then came up with some alliterative words to go along with bear! We had bouncy bears, bonnie bears, brilliant bears, boisterous bears and birthday bears! We used these to create a subheading for the next part of our writing.
 

Does playing always involve toys?
 

We have also been exploring the different ways we can play. Do we always have to play with toys to be playing? How else can we play? The children expressed that many of them enjoy playing on their tablets and game consoles, so we decided to investigate technology further…

We learnt that technology often needs power , and that as it evolves, inventors create even better pieces of technology. We agreed that although technology is wonderful and helps us in our daily lives, there is such things as too much screen time, which can make us grumpy or very tired. 
 

We found some cut up paper on our tables and decided to piece them together. We discovered some images of children playing with technology. The children noticed that these children had lots of toys around them and couldn’t understand why they were playing on their tablet rather than with their toys. 

We decided to re enact these images, using drama to create conversations between parent and child about screen time. We took this very seriously!

Should we play with technology all day? 
 

Some children raised a point… “too much screen can make your eyes go square”. We discussed how our eyes wouldn’t actually turn square, but playing with technology too much can not only hurt our eyes, but our brains too. 
We decided to have a look at what the experts say about screen time, and found out that children aged 5 and 6 should have about 2 hours of screen time a day. Lots of us have very clear rules about when we can use our tablets at home.

                                         

We worked out when we think the best time for screen time is. Before school was too busy, we may use it to help us learn at school but after school there was some more time. We agreed that we shouldn’t really use our tablets whilst we are eating, as that’s a nice time to talk to our families and spend time together. We also spoke about how we shouldn’t watch our screens at bedtime, as it keeps our brains too busy and means we don’t sleep properly. We decided that the best time for our screen time was after school, before we have our dinner!

What did we notice about Gabriel?

After watching the video, we saw how incredibly talented Gabriel was at making toys. We noticed however, that even though he is making toys in the modern day, he uses wood instead of plastic. We discussed that this is because wood produces less waste than plastic and is less harmful to our planet. We were fascinated by the different tools he uses

 and loved the bright colours he used to paint the toys. Gabriel said he works 6/7 days a week, making toys.

Some of the children were concerned that Gabriel’s workshop seemed a real mess, with lots of things spread about. We noticed an energy drink too, which made us think that Gabriel might be tired. We also saw that his hands were a little dirty, so we know he works very hard. We think Gabriel is an older man, and we heard him talk about his wife…

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Gabriel needs help…

As our story continued, we saw a tired, overworked Gabriel, having a conversation with his wife. She suggested he may need some help in the workshop. Gabriel was reluctant but began to draw out a help wanted poster. We saw him carefully adding his phone number and the jobs he needed doing…

”HELP WANTED, toy maker, 3 days a week…”. 
Suddenly, Gabriel stood up, scrunching up and throwing his poster across the room. “I DON’T WANT ANY HELP”. he screamed and stormed away. 
 

The children were concerned about Gabriel after this and discussed how maybe he felt embarrassed that he couldn’t do his work alone anymore. They decided to help Gabriel to make his help wanted posters and send them to him, despite being slightly worried he might scrunch them up…

Could we be the perfect fit?

The children were delighted to see that the posters they made for Gabriel had been displayed all around, when they had an idea…

They discussed how they had been learning all about toys since they began in year 1 and now knew enough to be experts. Could we help Gabriel? Yes! We are the perfect fit! 
The children came across some cut up paper and began piecing them together, revealing a name and a logo.

”The Toy Tinkerers”.

Everybody decided that this would be the perfect name for our team! We would be working with toys and experimenting with materials. 
 

Let’s go team! 

The workshop.

The first job the team undertook was to create Gabriel’s workshop. We discussed the different things he may have, such as shelves, wood, a broom, tools and books. 
The team set about making wood and shelves, as well as gathering trinkets to display. We remembered that his workshop was a mess, so didn’t fuss too much about making it neat. 
The team were unhappy with it being called “the workshop” and felt that a place that makes such lovely toys should have a name that reflects that… so they decided on the name “The Creation Station”!

Tools, tools, tools!

The team began looking at the tools Gabriel uses in order to familiarise themselves with his process. We explored hammers, saws, screwdrivers, sandpaper and pliers. The team discussed what each tool would be used for and how to use them safely. Gabriel’s tools were very interesting, but he didn’t have many. How could we all make toys with such few tools? How could we solve this? After putting their heads together , the team decided the best thing to do would be to make their own tools, using tinfoil. 
They quickly got to work, bending, folding, scrunching and manipulating the foil into the different tool shapes and added them to the workshop. Great problem solving team! 

What is an artist? What is a sculpture?
 

In order to help Gabriel, the team decided that they need to delve deeper into the skills needed to be a toy maker. They decided to practice their drawing skills, to help them with the future design work they would undertake. 
 

The team discussed that Gabriel is a talented, clever man and that the pieces he makes are works of art. They then spoke about the fact that his toys are similar to sculptures, as they are made from wood and sometimes represent different things, such as cars, trains and boats. They analysed other sculptures by other artists, looking at alternative materials to Gabriel’s wood. 
They decided, in order to practice their drawing, they would use their observational skills to draw their version of the “6000 lightbulb” sculpture. The team produced some fantastic drawings, and were so focused and dedicated. 

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Playful making 

In order to further their skills for toy making, the team continued their work on sculptures. They discussed how when Gabriel makes toys he will follow a design process, and have an idea of what his final product would be  before he makes it. The team decided to have a go at making sculptures without a design idea first. They were given 4 prompts. 

• Make something someone might want to steal. 
• Make a family of things.
• Make something that balances.
• Make something small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. 

At first, the team found this tricky, however, with lots of perseverance they began to create and “go with the flow”. We had some wonderful creations…handbags,boats,magic balancing boxes, cakes, scales and families of dolls.

A visit to the workshop.

The team received their first email from Gabriel, asking them to go to his workshop.
They eagerly replied and rushed over to his workshop. We noticed that that his workshop was in an even worse state. His works bench was covered with paints, tools and various incomplete toys. This made the team concerned, as they felt as though Gabriel may still feel overwhelmed, even after our offers to help. 
 

The team noticed a large cardboard box next to the workbench, and wondered if this might be what Gabriel wanted us to look at. They carefully began unwrapping the bundles, revealing beautiful and intricate wooden toys. They decided that these toys must belong to Gabriel, and were ones he has made overtime. We agreed that we must be very careful with these toys as a lot of time, effort and love will have been put into their creation…

The team expressed an interest in using their observational skills and sketching the toys into their sketchbooks. They knew that this would aid them in their skill development and prepare them for their future in designing toys.

We wondered if this might have been what Gabriel meant….

Creating sculptures inspired by Gabriel’s work.

Eager to put their playful making skills to use, the team decided they would show Gabriel their dedication by creating sculptures inspired by Gabriel’s toys. We had a meeting to discuss the different resources we could use, and the ways in which we could fasten and join things together. The teams split, and chose a toy to inspire them per table. 
They did a wonderful job at selecting their materials to suit what they were going to make and making sure to only use what they needed. Gabriel liked to keep his work sustainable after all.

When they were finished, they decided to display our sculptures on Gabriel’s shelves, in the hopes he’d notice them when he arrived back at his workshop. We hope he’s impressed by our skills and dedication!

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Gabriel isn’t sure about shapes…

The team peered through the window of Gabriel’s workshop. They saw him, sat on a chair pondering. He held up a shape sorter he had just made and began to analyse it, looking very confused. “I have made this beautiful sorter with a square hole, a circle hole, a triangle hole, a rectangle hole and a diamond hole. The problem is, I have no idea which shapes to make to fit through each hole! I’m not great at shapes!”. The team were excited, they had been learning all about 2D and 3D shapes in their maths work, and were experts on the subject. They decided to sneak away from the window and back to HQ to begin helping…

We drew a large shape sorting top to help us and began working our which shapes would fit through the holes. They used 3D shapes and discovered that multiple different shapes could fit through one hole! A cone or a sphere could fit through the circle, a cube or a pyramid could fit through the square and a prism or a pyramid could fit though the triangle! The team then went away and drew, labelled and coloured the shapes so Gabriel knew exactly which ones to make.

The team then decided to send their work in the post to Gabriel.. and were excited to see that after play time he had read them all and began working on the shapes he needed!

Gabriel’s beginning…

The toy tinkerers had visit from Gabriel, and he’d brought something very special. His family photo album…

He spoke to the team and said he had received their questions and wanted to tell them how he had become a toy maker.

The team learnt that Gabriel had first made a toy when his grandson was first born in 2010.  It was a little wooden teddy bear rattle. his daughter loved this so much that she asked her dad if he would make a wooden toy for each one of her sons birthdays. Gabriel agreed and for his grandson’s first birthday he made a wooden car for his second birthday he made a shape sorter for his third birthday he made A rocking horse…

Gabriel kept making toys until his grandson turned 10, and for his 10th birthday he got wooden alphabet set.
But then Gabriel looked sad..

He explained that when his grandson was turning 11 in 2021 he didn’t want wooden toys anymore and he asked for a PlayStation. Gabriel explained that he is not a computer expert and so he stopped making toys for his grandson. Gabriel said he was lucky that he had all his memories in his family photo album. He offered to leave it with the team for them to have a look through. He said he had to go as he had lots to do and the team waved him goodbye.

The team began to look through the photo album and were confused. The pages were empty there were no photos of the toys that Gabriel had made and no photographs of the grandson playing with them. Gabriel didn’t have any memories of these toys. The team decided it was their job to help Gabriel and decided that they would draw the pictures of the toys and the grandson playing with them for Gabriel to have in his photo album.

First the team used their maths skills to order the numbers from 0 to 10. They then added the correct toy to the birthday that the grandson received it on. They then took the picture of the toy and began drawing it and then added all of the images they had drawn into the photo album. They knew that Gabriel was going to be so pleased.

History 

To help with our mantle story, it was crucial we learnt some history. The children stepped out of role as the toy tinkerers and were back to children in the class room. They understood that they needed to learn before they could help. Miss Lettice introduced timelines to the children, and explained that this would help us see the progression I’m history other time. She began with the birth of Jesus Christ in 6BC. She then walked round to the other side of the room and added the first toy yo-yo in 2500 BC. The children saw that this was a very large gap and asked if shorter times had smaller gaps. 
We decided to construct a timeline all around our classroom and add events from 1800 all the way until now. We started with the date 1800. Miss Lettice explained that 100 years was a century and there was a century between 1800 and 1900. The children decided that the gap between these dates didn’t need to be as big as the gap between 6BC and 2500BC but still needed to be quite big. Once 1900 was on the timeline the children began working up 10 years at a time.

Ask your child how many years are in a decade I’m sure they will be able to tell you.

The children decided that the gap on the timeline between each decade didn’t need to be as big as the gap between two centuries. Together we built our timeline going up in decades from 1910 all the way until 2020. 
we then began adding some dates to our timeline that we already know. We added the birthday of Mrs Chase.  Mrs Chase was born in 1968 the children realise there was a six in this number and understood that the birth of Mrs Chase needed to go next to 1960. They then added the birthday of Mrs Styles I’m 1990. The children recognised the decade number and added Mrs Styles to 1990. They then added Miss Lettice’s birthday in 2000, and the children were able to understand that Miss Lettice needed to go next to a number that started with 2 and had 3 zeros.

To apply this knowledge the children created that own timelines. They started with the decade 1960 and went all the way up to 2018 and 2019 years they were born. The children added toys from each decade into the correct place on their timelines. They knew that the last two digits of the year is the decade number. This helped them to make sure each toy was in the right place.

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The burst pipe….

The team were devastated to find out that there had been a burst pipe in Gabriel’s workshop, flooding the place and spoiling all of his toys. 
The team invited Gabriel to Tinkerer HQ…

The website.

When Gabriel arrived at HQ, he looked flustered. He explained to the team that since providing toys for Tilly and starting up his online store, his workload was off the scale. 
We paused the drama and discussed the word website. What is it! What does it mean?

We discussed that WWW meant World Wide Web, and that there are lots of different places we can online shop. 
 

We began the drama again, and saw as Gabriel created his website, he had 39 5 star reviews which he was so proud of. He added information about himself, his work and a timeline of his career. But there was a problem. He didn’t add any photos of his toys for people to see what they were buying. The team went and drew a variety of Gabriel’s toys and helped him add them to the website.

The ERROR message. 
 

The website was complete and it looked fantastic, particularly with the images drawn by the team. Suddenly, a huge, red error message popped up… something was wrong!

We watched as Gabriel checked his emails and gasped. He explained that someone’s been taking his work off his site and claiming it as their own! Everyone was shocked, and could see that Gabriel was upset. He spends so long making his toys, it was so unfair for someone to do this. We paused the drama.

Miss Lettice introduced the word “copyright” to us. We had heard this before in our reception learning. The children remembered that copyrighting something meant it belongs to someone and no one is allowed to take or steal it. We recapped that some of the ways we copyright our work is by adding our name…. That was it!

The drama began again, and the toy tinkerers suggested that the best thing to do was for Gabriel to copyright his work, by adding his name. Gabriel agreed but was anxiously checking his watch. He explained he had so much work to get done, he needed to go. He trusted the team to copyright his work and hopefully remove the error message! He left.

The team got to work adding Gabriel’s name underneath his work, this way no one would be able to take it! When they were done, the error message had disappeared! It worked! The team had fixed another issue. 
 

The error has gone… how do we tell Gabriel?

The team knew Gabriel was busy and stressed, making toys in a place he wasn’t used to, seeing as his workshop has flooded. They also knew he’d be worried about the error message. 
They wanted to tell him it was fixed and take a weight off his shoulders, but weren’t sure how. They discussed that sending a letter would take days and they wanted him to know how, an email may not come through if he doesn’t have access to the internet and a phone call would take up time away from making toys… What could we do?

Ah! A text message! We agreed that this would be the fastest and most suitable way to communicate with Gabriel. The team went away and wrote their texts, explaining that the error had gone and the site was fixed and sent them to Gabriel.

The reviews.

The team were keen to read some of Gabriel’s 5 star reviews and see what members of the public thought of his wonderful art. They clicked on the review section and noticed a problem… they were all muddled!

Another problem for the team to solve!

The team used the sentence skills they have been learning in literacy and writing to help them put the sentences back together. They noticed that a word with a capital letter likely went at the beginning, and a word with a full stop would go at the end. 
 

They them used their Maths shape skills to make stars, making sure each review had 5. Did you know you could use 2 triangles to make a star by rotating them?

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Negative reviews…

The team watched as Gabriel added a sign to his website “delay in orders due to problems in workshop”. They noticed his reviews no longer had only 5 stars, some were 4,3,2 and even 1 star! The team discussed why this may of happened and why people might feel so cross with Gabriel. They decided to sort the reviews using their maths knowledge of  less than, greater than and equal to.

Gabriel’s online reputation. 
 

After seeing all of the negative reviews, the team had a meeting about Gabriel’s online reputation. 
We discussed that when we are online, people may see us differently to how we really are. For example, the team knew Gabriel was working hard and cares a lot about his work however, people who don’t know him and just see negative reviews might think he’s lazy and unbothered. This could damage his reputation as the brilliant toymaker he is.

Using the “Effigy” convention we saw Gabriel in the middle of the room, emotionless and standing completely still. We discussed how Gabriel may be feeling, and began posing him to show these. We had stressed, tired, upset, angry and worried Gabriel. The team then went away in pairs and practiced their own Effigies of Gabriel to aid them in their understanding of how Gabriel’s online reputation would be making him feel. 

Does he want our help?

After discussing he ways Gabriel may be feeling, we decided to send him a text. Using the skills we have learnt in literacy, we were sure to include a question and a because in the text, asking if Gabriel wanted help and explaining why we are the best team to help him. 
He replied quickly, asking us to make the toys and send out the orders!
 

The design process.

Once they had selected the order form they were going to make, the team had to make a list of the resources they were going to need. We recapped the skills they had learnt in art and discussed what we used when playfully making and creating with an outcome in mind.

• Cardboard
• Plastic 
• Paper
• Pompoms
• Straws
• Sticks 

The team took their clip boards and made their lists, thinking carefully about the suitable resources to use. They then drew their desired outcome, labelling what each part of the toy would be made from. 
 

Our final commission for Gabriel.

It was time to make the toys. The team knew how important it was to make the toys they had planned. If the outcome wasn’t what was expected, the reviews would go down again. The team worked hard, applying the skills they had learnt in the playful making unit of art. They used a wide range of materials to create cars, xylophones, dolls and shape-sorters. They followed their designs closely and selected the resources they had planned to use. 
The final products were outstanding!

A great success!

The toy tinkerers had done it! The reviews were back to 5 stars and Gabriel was over the moon with the wonderful toys we had created. We were invited to a special graduate ceremony where we were met by Gabriel. He gave us each a rosette and we shook his hand. We were sure to clap for each of our team mates, we were so proud of each other! 
 

Brilliant work team. I wonder what will be next…