In Year 4 this week, we have started our ‘making a slingshot car’ unit of work.   

We began by looking at the history of cars and how cars have developed and changed through time. Once we explored different car models and discussed why each car was designed in that way, we were ready to begin our own construction.

We used lollipop sticks, dowel rods, straws and wheels to construct the bodywork and working axels. We held our structure together using PVA glue. Next we used lolly sticks, a paperclip, masking tape and an elastic band to create a slingshot launch mechanism. In order to make sure our launch mechanism was secure, we used the glue gun to fix this to the chassis, this meant that the paper clip launcher would be firmly fixed to the car.

Next we needed to create all the panels for our car and apply our chosen graphics to them. We began by drawing around the bottom of our chassis to ensure the side panels would be the correct length. Then, we drew our chosen car shape using this base. Once one side panel was complete, it was important to add tabs to the design before it was cut out to enable it to be assembled. The second panel was made by tracing around the shape of the first.  

Rowan class have also made the top panel for their cars and started to assembly them (Cedar class will start this stage next week). The top panel was made using the width of the chassis and the length needed to follow the shape of the car panels before graphics could be added.

Once they are all constructed, we will be testing our cars out and seeing whose car travels the furthest and fastest!