masks & swimmers

Long time no post - it's report writing and end of year assessment time!
A couple of recent projects.
'African' masks with our y2's - simple symmetrical card cutouts.

And automaton swimmers with y4's.

When you blow through a straw along its back, the arms 'flail' around! (the head acts as a turbine).

more levers

The y4's made even more complex mechanisms today where levers move in opposite directions.

This example shows that when you pull the leg the duck 'quacks'! Quite understandably in my opinion.

levers

Today the y4's started looking at mechanisms. They created moving pictures by utilising a simple lever.

  

atop

Here are some pics of the figure that now adorns the box from a couple of days ago. As you can see she can be posed in a variety of ways. Her elastic joints keep the pose fixed as she pirouettes.

automaton

Here's the latest automaton to grace my workbench;

It's a gardener proudly watering a flower. As you turn the handle on the right the gardener bends to water the plant and, as he rises, so does the bloom. I made it as a try out rather than a completely 'finished' piece just to get the hang of the mechanism. Quite pleased with how it turned out.

dinosaurs finished

Some of the y2's completed their dinosaurs today. They installed the pneumatic systems that work the mouths and added other embellishments - eyes, teeth (making sure they were herbivore teeth!), tongues, claws etc.

 

 

Below is a very short video;

 

 

And now I've figured out how to upload videos, here's the one of my train automaton from a few posts back;

 

Apologies for the wobble at the end - the camera was stuck to a jar lid with blu tack. Must invest in one of those small, table-top tripods!

dinosaurs

 Y2 painted their dinosaurs today. They had free choice of colour scheme as obviously no one knows what colours they actually were.

 

 

We also painted the inside of the mouths prior to adding the pneumatic mechanisms (syringes and plastic tubing!) that will open and close them.

 



And finally, a commission, well more of a request, for a painting of a local town. The reference can be seen on the left - a greatly enlarged and pixelated image, as the original was taken on a phone and had to be printed out. On the right is my stylised version of the scene - hoping to catch a flavour and sense of the original. Collage and acrylics on a canvas board, 18 x 24cm.

automata

In y4 for the last couple of weeks we've been doing a bit of Design Technology. We've made lever mechanisms, like those often found in picture/pop-up books, ie. 2D and with a linear motion (I must take some videos - some were ingenious!). We've now moved on to 3D, with a linear movement being converted into a rotary one. This is the mechanism we constructed out of 'Tech card' and paper fasteners. You pull the lever and the upright column turns ;

 

The children then created their own little automata. A golfer putting;

 

Bees swarming in front of their hive;

 

 

And a ballerina pirouetting in front of an appreciative audience;

 

Next week we're going to get two (or more!) 'figures' to rotate from the one lever movement!

today

Today in Y1 we painted the clay fish. We might give them a coat of PVA when they're fully dry just to give them a bit of protection/shine. They will be mounted in under sea dioramas eventually - more of which anon.

 

 

In Y4 we completed our paper engineering - lever mechanism pieces. This one, when the lever is pulled/pushed, operates and moves all 3 oars simultaneously. Next week we're moving on to cams!