Year 11 GCSE Coursework Guide
MECHANICAL TOY
Follow these easy-to-understand
helpsheets to get a great mark for
this project!
Brief & Analysis
Although you don’t get marks for
this sheet it will introduce your
work and make it clear to the
examiner that you know what
you have to do and that you have
thought about the brief
Just copy this onto your page
Brief
You will design and make a children’s mechanical toy. It
should;
1. Be made to a high quality
2. Use materials available in the school workshop
3. Be suitable for a child below the age of 10
4. Contain a working mechanism
Complete a
mindmap of things
How would you make a
to do with
What kind of toys
toy suitable for a child?
Children’s
are there?
mechanical toys –
don’t worry about
Analysis of the
this too much, just
brief
nice and quick 
What could you do to a
toy to make a child like
it more?
What different types of
motion could you make
with a mechanism?
What materials
could you use to
make your toy
out of?
1hr
Product Analysis 1 – Pull-a-long Duck
Product Details
Name:
Price:
Size:
Available from:
User Needs
Explain in detail what
the user needs it to
do? What is important
to them?
Materials
What type of materials
are this product made
from? Are these
sustainable or not?
Target Market
Who do the manufacturers expect to use
this product? How have they tried to
make it appeal to this group of people?
Form
Describe what this product looks
like (colours, finishes, shapes) - Is
it modern? traditional? Fun? For
children/adults? Explain why
You will do 2 Product Analysis
Sustainability
sheets and then writeExplain
some what is sustainable
conclusions. Analysis means
about this product.
when you look at something
Explain what is not sustainable
and try and understandabout
whatthis
it product.
is all about. On these sheets
we will look at 2 different
Ergonomics
Is this product easy for humans
mechanical toys (1 wooden
use? Explain your answer in
and 1 plastic) and thentoexplain
as much
things about them – follow
thedetail as possible
boxes for guidance, they are
all
Function
important). These 3 sheetsWhat
are is this product for?
Good/Bad
What does it do? Does it do
worth 4 marks that is nearly
Do you think this product
anything different to other
half a grade!
is a good design? Why?
Give as much detail in
your answer as possible
similar products? Does it
have any special features
that make it better?
Conclusions from the ‘Product Analysis’ sheets
On this sheet you need to explain what you have learnt
from the product analyses.
1hrs
For example;
4 Marks
• How can toys satisfy the needs of the user?
• What makes a good design? Why?
• How have the materials that they are made of made the designs better?
• How can you change the form of something to appeal to a particular target
market?
• How can you make something easier and safer to use?
• How big are mechanical childrens’ toys usually? Why is this size good?
If you can think of other things that you have learnt, then go for it, the more you
write, the better, as long as you link what you say to the products you have
looked at.
If you can answer these questions it shows that you can link good design to
materials
(wood is easy to paint and doesn’t have sharp edges) and users’ needs (toys
need smooth edges so they don’t hurt the children), and that you can also
‘identify trends’ (young children like bright colours!)
Conclusions from Interview
Introduction: Write a few sentences to say why you interviewed
someone and give some details about who you chose to interview
and why they were the lucky one!
Then give their answers to as many of these questions as possible;
1.
2.
3.
4.
What do you think makes a toy fun to play with for a toddler?
What colours and textures do you think toddlers like the best?
How big do you think a toy for a toddler should be?
If you were going to make the toy around a particular theme
what would you choose?
5. In your experience what is the difference between a good toy
and a bad toy?
6. Of the toddler toys you have seen, what materials have you
they been made from? Which material would you use, and
why?
Response to a brief using Analysis of Research
First of all stick the Final TOY Brief on the top of your sheet.
Then you will need to write about what you have learnt from your different types of
research (exam revision, product analyses, interview, materials practice projects) that will
help you come up with a product that will successfully meet the brief.
Using the writing frame, “From the ………….. Research I have learnt that ……….” write as
much as you can about the following questions;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What does a toddler need from a toy?
What is the difference between a well designed toy and a badly designed toy?
How can you make your toy appeal to a toddler?
What mechanisms could you use? Which one(s) do you think you will use and why?
How will you consider ergonomics when you make your toy?
Where would a toddler play with a toy? Does this change how toys are designed/made?
Which materials will you be able to use to make your mechanical toy? Which ones are
the best to use?
8. How can you make a product high quality?
9. How long should a toy last?
10. How big are toddler toys usually?
11. Is sustainability important when making the toy? How could you make it more
sustainable?
Specifications
SUPER IMPORTANT SHEET = CONCENTRATE & GET IT DONE!!
Write the following;
“To help me design a mechanical toy I have done lots of research and
analysed what I found out. I will now write a list of things that my
toy should do for it to be considered successful in meeting the brief.”
1. FUNCTION - It should…
2. SIZE - It should...
3. USER NEEDS - It should...
4. COLOURS - It should...
…
You will need to write enough points to cover; function, size, user
needs, colours, textures, safety, ergonomics, sustainability,
environment, aesthetic style, materials, life expectancy, ease of
cleaning, cost, theme etc…
Initial Idea 1
2. Black Pen = Description
What is good about the
design?
Link it to specifications if
you can.
3. SIZES
Add arrows with
measurements to show
roughly how big it would be
5. Blue Pen = Materials
What would you make
the design from?
Be specific, don’t just
say ‘wood’!
1.
15cm
4. Red Pen = Fixing
How would the design Wheels wobble
be held together?
up and down
Draw little pictures if it
makes it clearer. Nice big drawing please!
25cm
Chosen Idea Development
Copy and complete this;
Having completed the Peer Review of Initial Ideas I have decided that my Initial Idea X was
the best because my classmates said it was;
1.
2.
3.
However they said it could be improved by;
1.
2.
3.
So I will develop it to try and make it the best possible toy I can.
You will then need to change your Initial Idea to show how you could fix problem 1, then
change that to fix problem 2, then change that to show how all problems could be fixed...
This is your final design!
Chosen Idea Modelling
To get a really good understanding of your design you will need to
make a full scale model of it from suitable materials (card/blue foam
etc.). This isn’t worth many marks so do it quick!
Then answer these
questions;
1. Why have you made a
model?
2. Do you like the design?
3. Will the mechanism
work?
4. Is it a good size for a toy?
5. Can you change anything
about it to make it
better?
Photo Diary
Stage 1: Getting Materials
After giving the technician my
cutting list he cut up my base
materials
This photo diary is really
important and proves to the
examiner that you actually made
Stage 2: Marking Out
Stage 3a: Cutting
your
own
project!
You
also
I used a ………………………………… to
I usedwill
a …………………………………
to
……………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………….
use
this
photo
diary
to start
This was fairly …………. because ……..
This was fairly …………. because ……..
……………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………….
evaluating your processes
by
writing underneath the photos
any comments about what was
easy/hard with what you are
doing in the photo.
Stage 3b: Drilling
Stage 4: Assembly
Stage 5: Finishing
I used a ………………………………… to
……………………………………………………….
This was fairly …………. because ……..
……………………………………………………….
I used a ………………………………… to
……………………………………………………….
This was fairly …………. because ……..
……………………………………………………….
I used a ………………………………… to
……………………………………………………….
This was fairly …………. because ……..
……………………………………………………….
Testing & Evaluation
To evaluate my final toy I used different tests to work out if it met the specifications or
not. I have marked my toy out of 5 for each of the tests, 0 = Bad Fail, 5 = Great Pass.
Specification
Testing
Result
(0-5)
1. Fun to play
with
Got my friend to play with it
4
2.
Use Bright
Colours
Evaluation
It passes this spec well because
my friend said it was good fun
to play with and he liked the
On this sheet you
need
work
way the
turretto
came
off and
turnedyour
round final toy
out how successful
is.it To 2do
Asked my friend to look at
thisMy
you
will
test
it it
friend
said
although
looked
good the dark green and
against all of the
specifications
black colour scheme could not
that you wrote
earlier in the
be called bright
project. You will then evaluate
the results to say how good or
bad it is.