Lesson 4: Investigating boats

The children continue to look at boats and ships, but with a particular focus on their shape and how they move through the water. They explore and play with various boats and containers to determine which shapes work best.

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  5. Lesson 4: Investigating boats

Learning objectives

  • To investigate how the shape and structure of boats affects the way they move.

EYFS outcomes

Communication and language

  • Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences.
  • Connect one idea or action to another using a range of connectives.
  • Use talk to help work out problems and organise thinking and activities, and to explain how things work and why they might happen.
  • ELG: Speaking: Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary
  • ELG: Speaking: Offer explanations for why things might happen. 

Characteristics of effective learning

> Playing and exploring

> Active learning

> Creating and thinking critically

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Before the lesson

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Activity

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Teacher notes

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Key vocabulary

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Prompts for learning

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Observations

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Next steps

To design a boat. 

Note any specific next steps for individual pupils.

In this topic

Created by:
Sophie Pickles (EYFS),  
Design and Technology specialist
Sophie is an expert Early Years consultant. She has spent many years both teaching in Reception and leading, in her role of Head of Early Years and senior manager at an outstanding-rated, child-led setting. Sophie now works with many national educational…
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Lesson 3: Boats

Lesson 6: Creating and testing boats

Lesson 1: Waterproof materials

Lesson 3: Boats Previous Lesson
Lesson 5: Designing boats Next Lesson
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