Northbridge Grade 8 design students are making toys for very special clients: Kindergarteners!

07 October 2019

Stefan Hendry (3 posts) MYP Design Teacher and Grade 6 Level Leader View Profile

Grade 8 design students are currently researching toys and looking at questions such as, 'What makes a toy popular?', 'What innovations have taken place over time?' and more. This is because the Grade 8 students will be making toys for some very special clients, Northbridge International School Cambodia Kindergarten students!

Northbridge International School Cambodia - Kindergarten

Last week the three Grade 8 classes each visited a Kindergarten class to meet their clients and learn more about the kind of toys that interest today's discerning Kindy student.

It was great to see how detailed the discussions got, as the Kindergarten students are also working on a toys-based unit, so everyone had knowledge and expertise to share.

Kindergarten Teacher Alex Richardson explains that, "Kindergarten's current Unit of Inquiry (UOI) is how toys and games change over time. So when the opportunity arose for a visit from the Grade 8's, the KG students were interested in questioning them about their favourite toys.

"The KG students wanted to know what the Grade 8's favourite toys were at different times in their lives (as a baby, and in Kindergarten, Grade 2, Grade 5 and Grade 8). The KG students were fantastic inquirers, asking the older students lots of questions to get the information they needed to complete their timelines.

"The Grade 8's showed great patience and support for the young inquirers by helping them with drawings and explanations of their toys."

The Grade 8 students will now synthesise the results of the talks with the clients and develop design specifications for the toys they will build. Grade 8 expect the toys to be completed in time for Christmas and will be providing video updates to the Kindergarten classes as the unit progresses.