Let’s Build (Materials) – The Three Little Pigs

Objectives

To explore the materials that were available to the three little pigs, generating questions and observations.

To predict which material will be the most successful for house building and why.

Resources

Vocabulary

Today's Lesson

Assignment

This lesson works towards Assignment 6. Please access the assignment for details about what you will need to submit to your student's Wolsey Hall tutor.

What to Get Ready

Ahead of the lesson, print out the 📄 What's My Material? sheet and cut out the individual cards.

If possible, find other volunteers in the household to take part in the ‘What’s My Material?’ game in the main activity.

Main Activity

Stick a 📄 What's My Material? card on the back of your student and their friends/peers, making sure that they don't see it.

Ask everybody to walk around the room, asking each other questions to help them work out what image is stuck on their own back.

The group could use questions such as:

Is my object made of metal / plastic / wood / clay?
Is my object hard / soft / flexible / magnetic / natural?

When everyone has worked out the material on their backs, ask your student to sit down and watch the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'.

WATCH - Three Little Pigs (YouTube)

Apply

At the end of the story, discuss the materials used with your student, asking questions such as:

Why did the first two houses fall down?
Why did the third one stay standing?
What materials did they build their houses out of?
What material could have been used instead for the first two houses?

Then, with your student, work together to attempt to build the three pigs' houses using different materials: art straws, hay/straw, little twigs or lolly sticks, playdough, clay and building blocks.

Film a short clip of your student building the house. While you are filming encourage them to talk about the materials they are using.

You could use the following questions to prompt the discussion:

Does it feel soft? Strong?
Will it be good material for building a house?
Will it blow down when the wolf blows? Why will it blow down?
What useful properties do the materials need to have, to be good materials for house building?

Ask your student to tell you which material they think will be the most successful for house-building and why.

As part of your student's next assignment, video your student retelling the story of the three little pigs, giving explanations as to why the houses fall down.

For an extra challenge you could ask your student to think about why some pigs may not choose to use bricks (for example, they are more expensive, heavier, harder work to build with, and so on) and suggest a successful alternative.

The video should be submitted as part of the next assignment at the end of Step 18.

Citations

[1] www.youtube.com [2] www.youtube.com