top of page

Mini Greenhouse (Lower Key Stage 2)

Design Brief: Design and make a mini greenhouse to provide the right conditions for growing plants and vegetables all year round.
Strand of Learning: Materials, Structures, Cooking & Nutrition
Overview: In this project children learn about how greenhouses are used to grow plants. They are introduced to using computer software to help design products and use this software to design a mini greenhouse to grow plants seedlings in. They further their understanding of frame structures by following their design to make a mini greenhouse using the Jinks method of constructing wooden frameworks. As part of the evaluation, they plant and grow seedlings.

A version of this project without the use of computer-aided design is also available.

Gallery

Images from the Lesson Presentation Slides

  • 6 x Lesson Presentation Slide

​​

Medium Term Planning includes:

  • 6 x lesson overviews

  • Vocabulary List

  • Learning statements linked to Curriculum

  • Support and Challenge

  • Assessment - Keeping up with the curriculum

Teaching Pack

Curriculum Scope and Sequence

Substantive & Technical Knowledge

Children will know:

  • The difference between a design brief and design specifications.

  • Design specifications describe how a product should be made, how it works or what it should do.

  • There can be a range of people and places that can be clients for a product.

  • How computer-aided design software can help in the design process.

  • Rules and procedures for keeping themselves safe when making products.

  • The properties of materials that they are working with and how these determine the tools and techniques that they use.

  • That a list of the main stages of turning a design into a product will aid the making process.

  • Design specifications are a list of success criteria for the product.

  • When evaluating products, it is important to use the design brief and the design specifications as a guide.

  • To use a range of information sources to identify areas in which their product could be improved.

 

Cooking and Nutrition

  • Food is either grown, reared, or caught for food.

  • Different foods are grown around the world and that some food is dependent on the seasons.

Materials

  • That products are made of materials that are chosen because of their properties.

Structures

  • Whether a structure is a frame structure or a shell structure

  • Suitable techniques to strengthen materials.

  • Suitable techniques of making structures more stable

Practical Knowledge (skills)

Children will know how to:

Designing Skills

  • Generate ideas for a product, considering its purpose and who the client is.

  • Design a product that meets client’s needs and the design brief.

  • Use design specifications as a guide to the making process.

Drawing Skills

  • Communicate and draw out their designs using three-dimensional techniques such as ‘crating’ and isometric drawing.

  • Use computer software to show what their final product will look like.

  • Follow instructions to ensure that they work safely.

  • Select suitable tools, equipment, materials, and components for the task.

  • Explain their choices of materials, techniques and tools when making a product.

  • Measure, mark out, cut and shape materials with increasing accuracy.

  • List the ways in which a finished product meets the design specifications. 

  • Evaluate their product using a range of sources including client review, peer review, design brief and the design criteria.

 

Materials

  • Measure, mark-out, cut and shape a wide range of materials.

  • Cut internal shapes and joining slots in sheet materials.

  • Join and combine materials and components using a variety of methods.

  • Manipulate different materials to create different effects by cutting, creasing, and folding.

 Structures

  • Choose suitable materials, techniques, and tools to construct or repair products.

  • Apply a range of practical skills and techniques to create stable and strong frame structures.

bottom of page