R.E made fun!

Who ever thought R.E. could be fun?  Thats just what we've discovered at Furzedown Primary School making Sukkah shelters with Year 3.  From models made in class, the children up-scaled their designs to create installations in the school's courtyard.  On several levels there were many parallels to be to architecture and building in practice:

Sukkah shelters at Furzedown Primary School

Keeping it simple
We used a small palate of materials to make the shelters; timber, correx, duct tape and leaves.  This kept our focus on swiftly creating a set of exciting shelters.

Limiting the number of fabrication processes
Their creations were realised with a minimal number of processes, driven by the restricted number of materials, but still offering many fabrication options.

Economy of materials
One child was pleased to create an impressive shelter using only one sheet of correx.

Keeping to a tight programme
It was essential to keep to a tight construction programme.  The lesson was 90 minutes long and I arrived half an hour late.  We had to stay focused and work quickly, knowing what we wanted to build with a clear process on how to achieve it.   

Creativity
The smaller models formed the starting point for the larger installations although the properties of the correx offered possibilities for additional creativity; bending, folding and cutting to test structural and geometric possibilities of the material. 

The children really enjoyed having the creations to play with and as always I enjoy participating in their creative process.  I always come away thinking I have learnt as much from the experience as them, if not more.