Specialist School Outreach - Brownies Design Technology

One of the objectives that were identified in the specialist schools bid was to lead a short taster project with the local brownie group as party of our community programme.

Thirty of the Brownies came in every Thursday evening for four weeks to make jigsaw puzzles. The girls had to choose a picture from home that they wanted to make their puzzle with.

Some of the girls then used our printers, scanners and photocopiers to enlarge or duplicate their chosen image. They then had to stick their picture onto a sheet of board and give it a laminate top with some sticky cellophane.

Then the girls cut their puzzle into a neat rectangle to make the outside edge, and were helped rounding off the corners with a disc sander.

Next they used a Hegner saw (a type of fret saw designed for kids) to cut their puzzle into three wiggly sections, which they in turn cut into smaller jigsaw pieces with a coping saw. The final part of the project was to check that all the pieces fitted back together to make the puzzle.

Everyone had a lot of fun and were very impressed with their own jigsaws and the fact they made them from scratch. It was definitely thought to be worthwhile for them all.

The whole group of local brownies getting ready to get stuck in to their project.

Looking the part with all the safety gear and her board ready to jigsaw into pieces!

Never underestimate the determination of a Brownie with a mission - and a hacksaw to help her complete it!

When it came to the really technical parts, Rob Thallon our Curriculum Technician was on hand to help them along.