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Science and Technology K–6 · Kindergarten

Design and build a shelter that keeps a toy dry in wind and rain

Material World with Design and Production (NSW 2017); Design and Technologies, Technologies and society and Processes and production skills; Science understanding, Chemical sciences (ACARA v9)

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Choosing materials by their tested properties and joining them in a stable shape produces a shelter that does its job.

Safety card

Low riskAn adult supervises

Hazards

  • Skewer points; fan blades

Controls

  • Points cut off before the lesson; fan guarded and switched by the adult

Note

No chemicals or heat. Record the activity on the school's risk assessment (Primary School RiskAssess, Ecosolve Australia, riskassess.com.au).

What you need

  • A small plastic toy figure (10 cm) per group
  • Frame materials: pipe cleaners, wooden skewers with the points cut off, paddle-pop sticks, straws
  • Cover materials: plastic sheet, foil, paper, cotton fabric
  • Masking tape, string, playdough for feet
  • A spray bottle (rain) and a desk fan on low (wind); a 20 cm by 20 cm base board

How to do it

  1. Look at a shelter people have designed at school (a shade sail, a covered walkway or a raincoat) and name the material chosen for the frame and for the cover.
  2. Draw the shelter you plan to build and label the material for the frame and the material for the roof.
  3. Build it on the base board, using the earlier stiff-or-bendy and waterproof results to choose.
  4. Test rain: five squirts of the spray bottle from 30 cm above. Is the toy dry.
  5. Test wind: the fan on low at 50 cm for 10 seconds. Does the shelter stay up.
  6. Change one thing that failed, test again and record what you changed.

What you should see

A shelter keeps the toy dry when its roof is made of a material that kept water out in the waterproof test (plastic or foil) and is fixed without gaps; a paper roof soaks and can let water through. A frame stays up in the fan when it is stiff or braced; a bendy frame such as pipe cleaners folds unless braced. Each test gives a pass or fail, and the change made after a fail is recorded. The learner knows it worked when the toy is dry to the touch after the spray and the shelter is still standing after the ten seconds of fan.

What changes

This activity lists no variables to change, measure and keep the same.

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

  • A roof only needs to be big, not waterproof.
  • Tape can hold any frame up in wind.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), NESA. Current syllabus; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare, 2027 start teaching the 2024 syllabus. Code read from the official syllabus document on 2026-09-22.STe-2DP-TSTe-4MW-ST
  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), NESA. Implementation from 2027, so this code describes the future syllabus. Code read from the outcomes page on 2026-09-22.STE-DDT-01STE-SCI-01
  • Australian Curriculum v9AC9TDEFP01AC9TDEFK01AC9SFU03AC9SFI05

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

  1. www.scootle.edu.au/ec/search?accContentId=AC9TDEFP01
  2. www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/curriculum/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2017
  3. curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2024/content/early-stage-1
  4. primaryconnections.org.au/teaching-sequences/foundation/shelter-storm
  5. primaryconnections.org.au/v84-sequences/thats-my-hat

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