Boundary Primary School: Design and Technology: Blog items

Date: 13th Mar 2026 @ 2:17pm

This week's sensory theme was bread art. We had lots of fun rolling and cutting out Easter shapes. We then explored developing our spreading skills, using a choice of strawberry or apricot jam or cream cheese. We had lots of fun exploring the textures with all our senses. It was a great opportunity for us to communicate our choices too.

Year 2- Axels

Date: 12th Mar 2026 @ 3:43pm

Today we explored fixed and free axels. We practised making both axels and tested which moved best and which would be more suitable when making our moving vehicle. We decided that the free axel meant the car could turn better and move faster.

Year 3 - Design Technology Textiles

Date: 3rd Mar 2026 @ 12:12pm

This half term in Design Technology, as part of our Textiles topic, the children have been exploring a range of existing pencil cases. They investigated what each pencil case was made from, how the materials felt and why different fabrics might have been chosen. The class also examined how each product was constructed, looking closely at zips, seams and stitching. We compared pencil cases with just one compartment to others with several sections, discussing which designs we preferred and why. This hands‑on exploration has helped the children understand what makes a textile product both functional and appealing.

Reception- Pancake Day

Date: 27th Feb 2026 @ 2:01pm

This week the children in Reception have been making pancakes. We talked about the tradition of pancake day how some people decide to give something up, during the Christain period of Lent. The children then enjoyed following a recipe to make and then eat their own pancakes. When we returned to the classroom we sequenced the pictures correctly and created our own pancakes and toppings.

"You have to mix the eggs, milk and flour with a whisk" Harley

"Cook it in a frying pan" Zane

"The pancakes were yummy. I liked the chocolate the best" Tilly- Mae.

Year 2- Moving Vehicles

Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 2:11pm

Today we started our Design Technology journey on moving vehicles. We began by exploring a variety of moving vehicles and discussed which were the best and why. We also learnt 4 new words: chassis, axel, body and wheels. We identified these on our moving vehicles and we can't wait to make our own soon!

Redwoods Cooking

Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 9:23am

We had fun this week making wonderful and delicious snacks. Some of use decided to make healthy sandwiches, while some of us wanted to make a warm healthy snack so we made yummy toasties. We worked together to help each other and to stay safe. After making our snacks we enjoyed eating them at snack time while listening to a story.

Acorns - sensory cooking

Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 9:17am

Acorns had a fabulous time during our sessory cooking session. We were exploring mixing, storing and pouring using flour milk or water. We had fun and developed our learning and engagement alongside other, building our focus and concentration. We then enjoyed a pancake at snack together.

Reception Making Dragons

Date: 23rd Feb 2026 @ 11:52am

As part of our learning about different cultures and communities this week we have been finding out about how Chinese New Year is celebrated across the world. At the creative area we have been making our own dragon puppets using a range of different meduims and materials. We have been practising lur cutting aswell as fixing and joining using both tape nd glue. We can't wait to use our puppets during our chenese new year parade later in the week.

Year 2- Our amazing smoothies!

Date: 13th Feb 2026 @ 2:01pm

In this lesson we made our fruit smoothies. To do this we used the bridge cutting technique to cut a range of fruits. We then used a blender to mix all our ingredients together to make our tasty smoothies! Before working with any fruits, we looked at health and safety. We thought about what potential there can be in a kitchen, how we needed to wash our hands and keep our area tidy.

Year 2- Where does food come from?

Date: 13th Feb 2026 @ 8:07am

In DT we thought about where different foods came from, and sorted foos into if they came from an animal or a plant. We then thoguht more closely to fruit and thought abotu how they grow, if that was on a tree, underground, on a vine or on the gorund.

Year 2- Food tasting

Date: 13th Feb 2026 @ 8:04am

As part of our DT day we were tasting a range of different fuits and smoothies. The chidlren enjoyed tasting a rnage of differetn fruits and describing them, and thinking about which would blend well to make a smoothie.

Nursery Run, Run As Fast As They Can!

Date: 12th Feb 2026 @ 8:11pm

The children have throughly enjoyed the story of "The Gingerbread Man". With it's repetitive phrases it's perfect for retelling and really gets the children involved in storytelling, Obviously we had the make our own Gingerbread men! The children did a super job making the dough together and proved themsleves to be excellent bakers. Luckily, no Gingerbread Men were found running the corridors of Boundary Primary School!

Year 5 - DT

Date: 12th Feb 2026 @ 9:29am

This week, Year 5 continued to construct their bug hotels using a frame structure.

Year 1- Mechanisms

Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 4:05pm

This half term, our focus has been on Mechanisms. We explored a range of different moving picture books and learnt they move using levers and sliders. Throughout the half term, we have been practicing our cutting skills and we applied this today to accurately make our lever, sliders. Then, we designed a background for our parts to move through and evaluated them for their effectiveness.

Year 1- Fruit Salads

Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 4:01pm

This week we have completed our Design Technology unit of food. We focused on healthy eating and created a healthy fruit salad. First, we tasted a variety of different fruits and described whether we liked their taste or texture. Then, we designed our own healthy fruit salads before following our design to successfully make them. At the end of the day, we evaluated our fruit salads.

Year 6 - Making pizzas

Date: 10th Feb 2026 @ 2:52pm

🍕 Year 6’s Brilliant Build‑Your‑Own Pizza Day!

Today, Year 6 swapped their pens and pencils for aprons and rolling pins as we spent the whole day becoming real‑life pizza chefs! From mixing flour and yeast to taste‑testing our final creations, it was a day full of teamwork, creativity, and (of course) delicious food.

👩‍🍳 Step 1: Making the Dough

We kicked things off by learning how proper pizza dough is made. Flour everywhere? Yes. Sticky hands? Definitely. Giggles and excitement? Absolutely!
Everyone worked hard to knead their own ball of dough until it was soft, stretchy, and ready to rise. Some students even discovered they had a natural talent for kneading!

🔪 Step 2: Chopping the Toppings

While the dough rested, we moved on to preparing our toppings. The classroom quickly turned into a colourful kitchen full of chopped peppers, onions, mushrooms, sweetcorn, and more.
We practised our safe cutting techniques, and it was amazing to see how confident and careful everyone was.

🎨 Step 3: Designing Our Own Pizzas

This was where the creativity really took off! Once the dough was rolled out, each student designed a pizza that truly showed their personality.
There were smiley‑face pizzas, rainbow‑topping pizzas, and even some very cheesy creations. Everyone took great care arranging their toppings just the way they wanted.

🔥 Step 4: Into the Oven They Go!

Next came the moment of truth! One by one, our pizzas went into the oven, filling the room with the mouth‑watering smell of fresh baking dough.
The excitement grew as each pizza came out looking golden, bubbling, and absolutely delicious.

😋 Step 5: The Best Part – Eating Them!

After all our hard work, we finally got to taste the results. And what a success!
Not only did the pizzas look amazing, but they tasted fantastic too. Many students said this was the best pizza they had ever had—and the secret ingredient? Making it themselves!

Year 5 - Carpentry Superstars

Date: 3rd Feb 2026 @ 12:02pm

Year 5 had an exciting DT session in Redcliffe’s DT room, where everyone became real carpenters as we measured wood carefully, used hacksaws safely and accurately, and secured our materials in bench vices to prepare all the pieces needed for our frame‑structure bug hotels; the class worked brilliantly as a team, stayed focused while using proper tools, and filled the room with creativity (and a little sawdust!) as we got one step closer to building our very own bug‑friendly shelters.

Reception- Junk Model Vehicles

Date: 30th Jan 2026 @ 10:25am

This half term we have been learning about transport and the different types we use to travel to different places.

This week we made our own junk model vehicles, thinking about what they look like. We collaged the colour of a vehicle and made sure we fixed the boxes togther with glue or tape and attached windows, doors, wheels, headlights and windscreen wipers on them.

Take a look at what we did!

Year 5 - Design Technology so far this half-term...

Date: 20th Jan 2026 @ 3:54pm

This term in DT, Year 5 have been diving into the world of frame structures, and it’s been brilliant watching them explore how these amazing constructions stay strong while using as little material as possible! We’ve looked closely at famous landmarks like Blackpool Tower and the Eiffel Tower, spotting all the triangles and cross-bracing that keep them standing tall, and we’ve compared them with other open-frame structures such as bridges and towers from around the world. The highlight, though, had to be our visit from Mr. Galloway, our site supervisor, who shared stories from his engineering days—including helping to build The Big One rollercoaster right here in Blackpool! The children loved hearing about real-life engineering and seeing how the ideas they’re learning in class connect to the structures they see every day

Road Safety Week in Redwoods

Date: 15th Jan 2026 @ 3:25pm

In Redwoods we have spent lots of time thinking about Road Safety. We have been practicing crossing roads together, we have created road safety posters and even made traffic light cookies. We have been developing our understanding of the word safe and unsafe, looking at lots of everyday examples.

Year 3 - Christmas Gift Boxes

Date: 18th Dec 2025 @ 9:16am

This term, Year 3 have been learning about shell structures in Design and Technology. As part of this unit, the children designed and made Christmas gift boxes using nets created from cardboard.

We began by exploring what shell structures are and how packaging is made using nets. The children looked at different box shapes and discussed how flat nets can be folded to create strong, three-dimensional structures.

Using this knowledge, the children designed their own Christmas gift boxes, thinking carefully about the shape and size they would need. They then created their own cardboard nets, accurately measuring, cutting and folding to form their boxes. This activity helped the children to develop their practical skills and understanding of how 2D shapes can be transformed into 3D structures.

Once assembled, the gift boxes were decorated with festive designs, making each one unique. The children showed great concentration and perseverance throughout the process and were very proud of their finished boxes.

Year 4 - Christmas cards

Date: 16th Dec 2025 @ 1:17pm

This week, we used our computer made designs, made a lever systems and finally made our Christmas cards! We had a good growth mindset as some of the components were tricky! But overall, we were pleased with the outcomes.

Reception get creative!

Date: 28th Nov 2025 @ 10:51am

Over the past few weeks Reception have been reading the story 'The Gruffalo'. As part of our learning we have been exploring using a range of different meduims and materials to create our own Gruffalos. We painted them first focusing on the use of colour ensuring we remembered his orange eyes and purple prickles. We then used a range of materials in the creative area to collage the Gruffalo adding specific details including tusks, a poisonous wart and purple prickles. During continuous provision the children also had the change to use the playdough to make their own models of the Gruffalo. Finally we explored how we could use recycled materials to make junk model Gruffalo. We explored how we could fix, join and attach the different materials and boxes using masking tape. The children worked really hard perserving even when it was tricky. When they finished their models they were encouraged to talk about what they liked best about it and how it could be further improved.

Year 3 - Together Time

Date: 26th Nov 2025 @ 9:27pm

This week, we were delighted to welcome our wonderful parents and carers into school for Together Time—a special opportunity for families to join their children in the classroom and experience learning side by side.

Our focus for the session was Design and Technology, and more specifically, 3D nets. This forms an important step in our DT journey as we work towards designing and creating our very own gift bags from nets.

Parents, carers, and children explored a range of hands-on activities together. They examined real-life packaging nets, experimented with magnetic tiles to build 3D shapes, and took part in a sorting activity to identify different types of nets. One of the highlights was investigating existing products—carefully deconstructing them to reveal the nets inside, then reassembling them to understand how each shape fits together.

It was wonderful to see families collaborating, problem-solving, and talking through ideas. The classroom buzzed with curiosity and creativity as everyone discovered just how much thought goes into turning a flat net into a 3D object.

A huge thank-you to all the parents and carers who joined us. Your involvement makes these learning experiences truly memorable for the children, and we can’t wait to share the next stage of our DT journey with you!

Year 4 - Making a lever system

Date: 26th Nov 2025 @ 3:04pm

A couple of weeks ago, we started to learn about linkage and lever systems in Design and Technology. We received a letter from The Card Factory asking us to design and make Christmas cards. We used split pins and a template to make a lever system this week to make a waving hand.

Design and Technology: Blog items