Year 4 Pneumatic Toys

To launch our new topic of pneumatic systems, we had lots of fun launching our stomp rocket outside in the playground. We then discussed exactly what we thought a pneumatic system was. 

We then came back into the classroom and discussed how most car tyres are called pneumatic and what compressed air is. We discussed whether all machines work using electricity and how machines used to work before electricity was discovered. Our task then was to experiment making our own pneumatic system using plastic tubing and two syringes. We had lots of fun and were amazed when the syringe plungers moved as we pushed the air through the plastic tubing.

We then started to think about our own toy. We were given the following design brief:

'To design a pneumatic toy for year one pupils to help them understand that air can be used to create motion.' 

From this, we then devised our own design criteria. Our toy must be:

• Colourful
• Have a design suitable for a young child
• Securely made 
• A pneumatic system

We then learnt about the difference between a thumbnail sketch and an exploded diagram. We used both of these when planning our toy and ensured that we accurately labelled each part of our diagram. 

We then spent two weeks creating our final pieces. First, we looked carefully at our plans before painting both the inside and outside of our toy. We then had to let them dry before adding the decoration. We used a variety of different materials to do this such as googly eyes, fluffy pom-poms, pipe cleaners and different coloured paper. We had lots of fun creating our final pieces and checking that they work by blowing up the balloon inside. We are all really proud of how they look and couldn’t wait to take them home to show our families.  

Finally, we evaluated our final pieces. We thought very carefully about the new skills we had learnt, what we had enjoyed, what we found difficult and how we would improve our final piece if we were to create it again.