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Unit outcomes
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Identify man-made and natural structures.
- Identify stable and unstable structural shapes.
- Contribute to discussions.
- Identify features that make a chair stable.
- Work independently to make a stable structure, following a demonstration.
- Explain how their ideas would be suitable for Baby Bear.
- Produce a model that supports a teddy, using the appropriate materials and construction techniques.
- Explain how they made their model strong, stiff and stable.
Suggested prior learning
ARCHIVED Year 1: Structures: Constructing a windmill
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Lesson plans
Lesson 1: Exploring stability
Lesson 2: Strengthening materials
Lesson 3: Making Baby Bear’s chair
Lesson 4: Fixing and testing Baby Bear’s chair
Key skills
- Generating and communicating ideas
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Key knowledge
- To know that shapes
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Key vocabulary
design criteria
man-made
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Related content
Unit resources
Knowledge organiser: DT – Y2 Structures Baby bear’s chair
An engaging summary document for pupils, encapsulating the key facts and knowledge for the Year 2 Structures: Baby bear's chair…
Vocabulary display – D&T Y2: Structures: Baby Bear’s chair
A display version of the vocabulary from the unit 'Baby Bear’s chair'.
Subject resources
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Cross-curricular opportunities
Mathematics
‘Pupils should be taught to:
- identify and describe the properties of 3-D shapes, including the number of edges, vertices and faces
- identify 2-D shapes on the surface of 3-D shapes, [for example, a circle on a cylinder and a triangle on a pyramid]
- compare and sort common 2-D and 3-D shapes and everyday objects.
- compare and order lengths’
See National curriculum - Mathematics key stages 1 to 2.
Our Baby Bear’s Chair lesson plan builds on mathematical knowledge of 3-D shapes, helping pupils apply concepts of edges, vertices, and faces to create a stable chair model.
Build on the learning
Structures: Constructing a castle
Pupils build on their knowledge from the Baby Bear’s Chair lesson plan, where they explored stability and structure, to create more complex structures using geometric shapes in constructing a castle.