← Year 2 design and technology worksheets

Year 2 Levers and sliders: moving cards worksheet

“Card lever mechanisms” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 2 design and technology unit “Levers and sliders: moving cards”, for children aged 6 to 7, and takes about 23 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 1 to 8 of the year, 8 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Card lever mechanisms

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 2 · Design & technology · about 23 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain that a lever turns around a pivot and its ends move in a curve.

A Look back3 min

  1. 1.

    This card strip is a rectangle. How many corners does it have?

  2. 2.

    A cereal box is shaped like this. How many flat faces does it have?

  3. 3.

    Ola puts the split pin in the middle of this card strip. How much of the strip is on each side? Write your answer on the line.

    a quartera halfa whole

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola makes a lever from card and a split pin. She presses one end down. Watch what the other end does.

A coloured card strip pinned at its middle to a card base, one end raised.
Watch me
pivot

Push one end down.

The pivot stays in the same place.

The other end goes up in a curve.

Now you
  1. 1.

    Kit pushes one end of his card lever down. Which way does the other end go?

    updownit stays still

C Your turn7 min

Look at the lever, then answer each card.

pivot
  1. 1.

    Which word names the point a lever turns around?

    barpivotholeend
  2. 2.

    Which of these is also a lever?

    a door handlea bowl of soupa sheet of paper
  3. 3.

    When the lever moves, its end travels in a …

    straight linecurvesquare
  4. 4.

    Write each card in the right column.

    scissorsseesawspongepaper cup
    LeversNot levers

Say it out loud: Point to the pivot on the lever. Which way does each end move?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A pair of open scissors lying on a table, seen from above
Ali says: “A lever only goes up and down, like a seesaw.”
  1. 1.

    Explain why Ali is wrong. Use one example.

E Think deeper4 min

A metal stapler sitting on a wooden desk beside a stack of paper
  1. 1.

    Find one lever in your home. Draw it, mark the pivot with a dot, and say how its ends move.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet
StudyDen · Year 2 · Design & technology · Levers and sliders: moving cardsAnswers are on the grown-up page

For the grown-up

Card lever mechanisms · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 4

2. 6

3. a half

B

1. up If they say down, they think both ends move together. Ask them to find the pivot and show how it turns.

C

1. pivot If they say bar, they have named the lever itself. Ask them which spot the lever swings around.

2. a door handle If they pick the paper, they may think a lever must be bendy. A lever is rigid. Ask them if it stays stiff when pushed.

3. curve If they say straight line, they expect a lever to slide. Ask them to trace the end with a finger as it moves.

4. Levers: scissors, seesaw · Not levers: sponge, paper cup If the sponge is in Levers, ask whether it has a rigid bar that turns on a pivot.

D

1. Look for: Says a lever can turn in other directions, not only up and down. Gives an example such as scissors blades closing sideways. If they only say Ali is wrong, ask for one example of a lever that does not go up and down.

E

1. Look for: Names a real lever, marks a pivot and says the ends move in a curve.

Words to use

Say“Show me the pivot. Now push one end. Which way does the other end go?”
Instead of“That is just a seesaw, so it is the same thing as a lever.”

After the sheet

Find scissors, a stapler or a door handle at home. Find the pivot together and watch the other end move. A grown-up should do any cutting.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

7 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

  1. Sliding card pictures(with a plan)
  2. Taking Cards Apart(with a plan)
  3. Paper or card?(with a plan)
  4. Testing a Lever Card(with a plan)
  5. Joining Moving Card Materials(with a plan)
  6. Envelopes Keep Cards Safe(with a plan)
  7. Listening and improving(with a plan)

Every Year 2 design and technology worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

Get the worksheetsTry the full plan free

Both start with a free account; you choose the plan when you sign up.