Year 4 classrooms were full of creative energy for this term's learning event. Children have been tasked with creating a useful accessory for a climber to help in his expedition.

With a clear brief given by explorer Chris, each team of children was asked to create an accessory to assist him in his next expedition. The accessory would assist Chris with his journey, providing one or more useful survival functions.

Children have been learning about mountains and volcanoes as part of their curriculum objectives this term. They have been finding out where mountains and volcanoes are found and how they affect the environment and lifestyle in the surrounding areas and further away.

In preparation for the learning event, children have worked in their teams to produce a diagrammatic project plan, indicating what materials they would need in order to produce their accessory. This plan provided the basis for their activities during the learning event when chidlren were joined by parents and carers to help make their ideas a reality.

With classes full, children and parents spent almost an hour assembling their materials and components into their accessory - everything from cereal and snack boxes to canvas and sweet wrappers. Teachers each selected one team from their class as having produced the best designed and most useful product to help Chris in his expedition.

This is how Oliver S and Owen S summarised the event:

In Year 4, we had an amazing Learning Event where parents gave us assistance to each make a brilliant product as part of our Design Technology learning. We were set the challenge, by Chris the mountaineer and spent time designing a range of products to aid him in his climbing expeditions. The criteria was to make a product that was light weight, to keep him safe or something to alert Chris to a potential hazard. All designs had to include an electrical circuit. All Children created marketing posters to advertise their great products. It was funny when we saw the parents faces as we explained our products to them. At the end of the making, we got to see each other’s great inventions made by parents and children.

These are the three products that teacher's selected as being best designed and most useful to Chris in his expedition