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Year 3 Pneumatics: moving toys worksheet

“Air can make things move” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 design and technology unit “Pneumatics: moving toys”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 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

Air can make things move

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · Design & technology · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can say how air can fill things, move things and be moved to make things work.

A Look back3 min

1.
How many flat faces does a cube have?
2.
Mo pumps up a bike tyre until it feels hard. What goes into the tyre?
3.
A plant starts its life as a . Circle the missing stage.
seedrootleaf

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola blows into a balloon. It gets bigger. Then she lets it go. Look at the steps.

Watch me

Air goes into the balloon.

The air fills the balloon, so it inflates.

To inflate means to fill with air and grow bigger.

Now you

1.
Ola lets go. The air rushes out. When the air leaves, the balloon ___. Circle the word.
deflatesinflatesexpands

C Your turn6 min

Read each line. Circle the word or group that fits. Look at the pictures to help.

A small electric fan standing on a table, its blades visible

A paper windmill with coloured blades on a stick, outdoors

1.
Ali blows into a balloon and it gets bigger. Circle the word for this.
inflatedeflateinvisible
2.
The moving air makes the windmill blades ___. Circle one.
turninflatedeflate
3.
A kite flies up on a windy day. Circle the group the kite belongs to.
air is inside it, so it inflatesmoving air moves itit makes air move
4.
Sort these cards into the right group. Write each thing in its column.
balloonwindmillhairdryerfootballkite
Air fills it Moving air moves it It makes air move

Say it out loud: Which thing is doing the work: the air inside, the air moving past, or a machine pushing air?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A tied red balloon full of air, sitting on a wooden table

Ali says: “Air is empty because we cannot see it, so a blown-up balloon has nothing inside.”

1.
Ali is wrong. Explain why in one sentence. Write it below.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Design brief: a card car with a balloon taped on can be pushed along by the air rushing out. Write who your air-powered toy is for and what it must do. Use three sentences.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Air can make things move · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 6

2. Look for: Air, pushed in by the pump.

3. seed

B

1. deflates

C

1. inflate

2. turn

3. moving air moves it If they circle 'it makes air move', ask who is pushing the air: the wind, or the kite itself.

4. Air fills it: balloon, football · It makes air move: hairdryer · Moving air moves it: windmill, kite If the hairdryer is in the windmill column, ask which thing is pushing the air out. A hairdryer makes air move. Sort again.

D

1. Look for: Air is real and fills space, so a balloon with air inside is not empty, even though air is invisible. If the child agrees with Ali, squeeze a blown-up balloon together. Ask them what is pushing back. Air is real.

E

1. Look for: A brief that names who the toy is for and states one job the toy must do using air, in full sentences.

Words to use

Say“Where is the air in this? How do you know it is there?”

Instead of“Air is nothing, it is just empty space.”

After the sheet

Blow up a balloon with a grown-up close by, then squeeze it gently. Ask what is pushing back. A grown-up should cut any card.

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:

Air That Moves Things(with a plan)
One squeeze, two outputs(with a plan)
Sketch, note and check(with a plan)
Plan your moving animal(with a plan)
Fitting Air Systems Inside(with a plan)
Hiding the Inside(with a plan)
Checking and improving toys(with a plan)

Every Year 3 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.

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