KS2 Art and Design / DT: How to design a moving shop window display

ABBIE HUTTY: Hi, I'm Abbie, and I'm a mechanical engineer. I design the structural parts of spacecraft, like satellites. Today I've come with pupils from nearby Wroxham School to a toy shop in Hertfordshire which has a Roald Dahl-themed window. Our challenge is to create a moving display for the window's centrepiece.

What could we do to make a toy shop window display really interesting?

JESSICA: Make it like big and colourful and like really creative and make it pop out.

ELAINE: Something that people would never expect, something really colourful.

PHOEBE: So we need it like quite big and so if someone's standing far away, they'll be able to see it.

ABBIE: OK, yeah, so we need something that's going to maybe move or flash. To complete this challenge, I've enlisted the help of Stephen Guy, who's an expert in cams. Cams are rotating or sliding parts of a mechanical object which make other pieces move up and down.

STEPHEN GUY: When you look at this, OK, this is my demonstration example. So, what we've got here is what we call an eccentric cam. When we actually turn the handle, you can actually see the cone actually going up and down, and it's also actually turning. So that's the basic definition of a cam, that it makes something go up and down. If we put two cams together, we can start to get a more interesting movement. If you watch that fish, you can see that it's actually going up and down and it's created a new movement which is actually going backwards and forwards as well. So, these cams are actually fantastic control systems.

ABBIE: Stephen has brought some of his moving displays for us to research. Cams come in all shapes and sizes. Each of them creates a different movement. So, what do you like about this one?

JESSICA: I like that it's all spinning around and they're all connected and they're all spinning at the same time. The robin's like ice skating at the bottom.

ABBIE: Let's draw some designs down. We've split into two teams to design Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and James And The Giant Peach sections of our display. So we're going to draw our designs for the Charlie And The Chocolate Factory cam machine, so we need to think about what kind of characters we could show. Has anyone got any ideas?

PHOEBE: Rows of Oompa Loompas, and they could be like going up and down and spinning.

ABBIE: That would be great, wouldn't it? They could also be dancing in a row or doing their little jobs in the chocolate factory. I love this design here, the seagulls are great. Can you tell me what movements you've got going on?

ALEENA: I'm going to have the sea here and some of the waves could be going side to side or up and down. And then I'm going to have the seagulls and they're flying. And then James will be having a lasso and he'll be reaching up and down to try and catch them.

ABBIE: OK, so he's trying to catch the seagulls, that's a really good idea. OK, so we've set up all of our cams. Is somebody going to explain to me what each of them is going to do?

ISABEL: That one is going to be an Oompa Loompa going up and down.

ABBIE: OK. So we've got a snail cam, so it goes all the way up and then it drops down.

EZRA: The second one is going to be Mr Willy Wonka.

ABBIE: And what's he going to be doing, what's the movement going to be?

PHOEBE: He's just going to be like coming forward and backward.

ABBIE: And this one on the end?

JESSICA: It's going to be sweets.

ABBIE: OK. So it's spinning round but it's staying at the same height, so it's just spinning a big tower of sweets.

JESSICA: Yeah, chocolate.

ABBIE: Fantastic. ABBIE: Can you tell me what you're doing?

ESIN: We're hanging seagulls.

ABBIE: What's going to happen when we turn the cam?

ESIN: When we turn the cam, can you see it goes up and down but it also spins? They'll spin…

ABBIE: They'll fly around, wow, they're going to fly all over the place! Everyone's working hard to finish their section of the prototype.

JESSICA: So we're just finishing off and colouring in the last bits we need to do. And everything's working fine. I think we're nearly ready.

PHOEBE: Yeah. I really like the swirling bit. It looks really effective, and all the dangly bits coming down.

ABBIE: Stephen's attached a motor to our display and it's time to find out if the toy shop owner likes it.

SHOP OWNER: Oh, wow, is this it? That's amazing! Are you going to put it in the window now?

ALEENA: Yeah.

SHOP OWNER: Brilliant. Thank you so much for this, this is fantastic. Shall we plug it in? Shall we see if it works?

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

SHOP OWNER: I think it's fantastic. What I love about it is that it's bright and it's attractive and it will bring people into the shop, because that's the whole point about the window display. I love it and I can't thank you enough for making it.

ABBIE: We've achieved all our moving display design aims. Well done, teams.