How will your roly poly move?

The big task is to design and make a simple push-along toy (a roly poly) using a mixture of found materials, paper and card. The toy should provide amusement in both its appearance and the ways it moves. It may be for the children themselves or for other younger children.

These are reports on activities taken by schools around the country. You can download the activities as acrobat files from the resources section

Roly Polys - Carol Sayles, Science Engineering Ambassador (April 1, 2005)

I run an after school Technology Club for Year 2 pupils at St Peter at Gowt's CofE Primary School in Lincoln.

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Rolling all the way to Argentina! (July 15, 2003)

The Design and Technology teacher in St. Mary's International College in Ezeiza, Prov. Buenos Aires, Argentina says "I have found your resources extremely useful. They have given me new ideas for my students projects."

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Hard tubes gave a tough time! (January 2, 2003)

How the unit went for the first time in a school in the South West

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Even a Spider Man roly poly! (October 25, 2002)

They had really used the specification and drawings to guide them with their making.

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Teaching mechanisms in the Midlands (February 4, 2002)

Iwona is a teacher in a primary school in the Midlands. In the autumn the focus of her D&T lessons was mechanisms. She decided to use the Nuffield primary solutions unit "How will your roly poly move?"

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Special School pupils enjoy Roly Poly (September 12, 2001)

Children at a Moderate Learning Difficulty school made roly polys that looked good and worked well.

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