Key Stage 2 · ages 7 to 11
Key Stage 2 design and technology: what your child learns
Across Years 3 to 6 children research what users need, model ideas with sketches, prototypes and computer-aided design, then make accurately. They also test products against their own criteria, strengthen structures, study mechanical and electrical systems, and program products, with schools choosing examples such as gears, pulleys and series circuits. In food they cook savoury dishes and learn about seasonality and how ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.
Guides for parents
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Analysing existing products
How Key Stage 2 children investigate and analyse everyday products in design and technology, the questions they ask, common mistakes and simple ways to help at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Cams, levers and linkages
How Key Stage 2 children use cams, levers and linkages to make moving models in design and technology, with a worked cam example, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Cooking savoury dishes
How Key Stage 2 children learn to prepare and cook savoury dishes: techniques, kitchen safety, a worked soup example, common mistakes and safe ways to help at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Series circuits in products
How Key Stage 2 children build series circuits with switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors into products, how faults are found, common mistakes and safe ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Design criteria and evaluating work
How Key Stage 2 children write design criteria, test their products against them, use other people’s views to improve their work, and how you can help at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Gears and pulleys
How Key Stage 2 children learn about gears and pulleys in design and technology: driver and driven gears, speed and force, lifting pulleys and ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Grown, reared, caught, processed
How Key Stage 2 children learn where food comes from: crops grown, animals reared, fish caught, and what processing does. A worked sandwich example and home ideas.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Inventors and designers who shaped the world
What Key Stage 2 children learn about key events and individuals in design and technology, which examples schools often choose, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Choosing materials
How Key Stage 2 children choose construction materials, textiles and ingredients by how well they work and how they look, with a worked example and home ideas.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Healthy and varied diet
What Key Stage 2 children learn about a healthy, varied diet: food groups, what nutrients do, a worked packed-lunch example, common mix-ups and ideas to try at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Programming and controlling products
How Key Stage 2 children program, monitor and control products in design and technology using sensors and circuits, with a night-light example and ideas for home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Prototypes, patterns and CAD
How Key Stage 2 children test ideas with prototypes, cut pattern pieces and use computer-aided design before they make the real thing, with a worked example.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Strengthening and reinforcing structures
How Key Stage 2 children strengthen, stiffen and reinforce structures in design and technology, with a worked bridge test, common mistakes and easy ideas to try at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Research and design criteria
How Key Stage 2 children research the people they are designing for and turn what they learn into design criteria, with a worked example and ways to help at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Seasonal food
Why fruit and vegetables have seasons, what grows in the UK and when, how strawberries reach the shops in winter, with a worked example and ideas to try at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Sketches and exploded diagrams
How Key Stage 2 children communicate design ideas with annotated sketches, cross-sections and exploded diagrams, with a worked example and easy practice at home.
Key Stage 2 design and technology
Using tools accurately
How Key Stage 2 children choose and use tools to cut, shape, join and finish accurately and safely in design and technology, with a worked example and home ideas.
Everything in the Key Stage 2 design and technology curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Key Stage 2, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.