Should your creature be fierce or friendly?
3
Making your creatures move
A challenge for able children is to make parts of the creature move. The simplest way to do this is to fix the arms, legs or head so that they can be moved and put into different positions. Strictly speaking this is moveable rather than moving but it is a necessary first step to a moving creature. The children can then arrange the creature in different positions depending on whether they want it to be fierce or friendly. This effect can be enhanced if parts of the 
head are moveable - an open mouth showing lots of teeth is fierce whereas the closed mouth might be friendly. It is very difficult to make a creature that walks and although this is an attractive proposition it is probably something that should be resisted unless the children have access to lots of technical expertise and lots of time.
It is a project that a Science & Engineering Ambassador could take on with a small group of pupils as part of an after school activity.
This simple gear train reduces the speed by x3 Getting the head to turn is achievable and turning through 360 degrees whilst anatomically impossible is fun to watch. This requires mounting the head on a neck that acts as a rotating shaft. If the children use the shaft of an electric motor as the neck the chances are that it will turn the head much too quickly. They will need to use a gear or pulley system to slow down the rotational speed. This provides a challenge that can involve using both science and mathematics.