Creating Characters and Inventor Goggles

The session began with us talking a little bit about ourselves and what inventing is all about. We decided the best way to get the children even more excited about Inventing was to create some Inventor Goggles to wear whilst Inventing. They had a the choice of three templates and endless amount of colour, freedom and creativity!

Once our goggles were made we thought of our characters. We decided to let the children create anything they liked as long as they had fun! Some of the characters we had were linked to pets or had several arms and legs. With their characters now created we started to have a discussion about what types of problems their characters would face and how we could invent something to help ease this issue for them.

Thinking...

By sticking to the class topic of 'Our City' we started off session 2 with a mind map discussion about Edinburgh and Scotland. We received great ideas from all the children from tartan and the flag to famous Scottish inventors such as John Logie Baird. After our initial thinking we started Inventing! This was what the children had been excited for. Not so long after the children had pages full of ideas to help solve their characters problems. We asked the children to talk to us about their ideas before we started to develop them. We encouraged them to think outside the box and use lots of colours to help them express their ideas.

Finalising Ideas...

Once the ideas were down we had a class discussion about some of the ideas the children had come up with and how we could remember to incorporate some of our class topic 'Our City' into our inventions. As a team us Wee Inventors decided to create our very own invention to show the children how a drawing can go from paper to 3D. They really loved seeing our idea and we finished this task with a wee video showing us making the invention.

The next task the children took part in was more of an active one. To test whether the children had been paying close enough attention during our session we decided to end the day with a quiz! Working in their tables the children answered 6 questions multiple choice. Once everyone was finished we asked them to stand up and move to the side of the room they thought the answer was.

Final Ideas/Prototyping

Once our final ideas were thought of the last task was to make them nice, neat and professional! We encouraged the children to take their time with their drawings as this was the pieces of paper the First year design students would be using to make some of their inventions come to life!

The next task for the children was to craft their inventions. They were very excited to do some crafting after spending many hours drawing their ideas down on paper. This way they felt they were able to express their ideas in a different format. The children really enjoyed this process and were more involved in delivering their models productively. The models they make will be used in the exhibition and for the first year design students to use as a guidance to their interpretations.

Once all the sessions were completed at Castleview Primary School we arranged four one hour sessions with the 1st year design students where we talked them through each of the children's design. After the introductory talk we gave the students our tips and advice for the project. We then spent the rest of the session planning out our redesign and interpretations of the designs. It was important for the students to gain experience working with a 'client' which allowed for the children's drawings to come to life we cannot wait to see the finished models!

Session 2 kicked off with the students focusing on their development. After a quick time pressured start we conducted a class crit to allow everyone to share and feedback on their ideas. The session was then ended with us clearly delivering the students their responsibilities and expectations for the project.

As we had so many excellent inventions produced by the children we tried to make as many as possible. This meant us leaders were also taking part in the project along with the students. Session 3 was all about working on the next batch of amazing designs. We focused on the redesign and development where we then ended the session with another feedback session. As we would be spending the next couple weeks getting the models made ready for exhibition we opened the design studio up for the students to use whenever they wanted. This meant they were free to work on the finished models in their teams. The buzz started to flow through the studio as the big day edged closer!

We started to see the students bringing in different materials that they would be working with. It was great to see the excitement of the project coming through as they were creating their finished models. The end of the session was drawing to a close however there was still time over the next week to finalise their creations. This marked the end of our time working with the students. They couldn't wait to see the children's reactions to their inventions coming to life!

Submission day brought an end to the project for the students. The models they had produced turned out fantastic and we couldn't wait to see the wee faces on the children and staff at the primary school. Here is one amazing example of Sofia's tartan Jet Pack used to help her get from A to B more quickly and efficiently!

A perfect way to end a wonderful collaborative project. A showcase to help express all the hard work achieved by Castleview P3 pupils and 1st Year Product Design at Edinburgh Napier University. From tartan jet packs to a shrek inspired friendly robot with a Scottish top hat we had lots of weird and wacky ideas. We also had some greetin' parents and crazy laughter from pupils the exhibition ended all too quickly. We really hope everyone who attended had a great time! We would like to finish by saying a massive well done and thank you to all the staff and pupils at Castleview Primary School without their enthusiasm and cooperation none of this would have been possible. This is only just a taste of what can be achieved through design and creative freedom and we hope you all continue to explore and create in the world inspiring your peers and those around you! Be proud and make your voices heard! Get creating!