Young children standing in a row and laughing in a classroom

Design Kids

A design class where your child uses ideas from books to build objects and spaces, then tries them out

In MACS Design Kids, your child reads picture books and nonfiction, then plans and makes menus, models, structures like bridges, and logos. After trying out what they made, they explain why they chose its size and materials.

Who this class is for

The class is for children in kindergarten and elementary school.

You don't need to worry about drawing skills. Projects are chosen based on your child's age and interests.

Sample projects your child can make

Seven sample projects: My Own Food Truck, Nightmares and a Haunted House, Animal Museum, Bridges and Building Structures, Everyday Products, Making Logos and Symbols, and Spaces for Emotions
  • Project: My Own Food Truck

    What your child learns and makes: Your child sets a menu and prices with nutrition and customers in mind, then builds a food truck and presents it.

  • Project: Nightmares and a Haunted House

    What your child learns and makes: Your child explores the fears in a story, plans the route, lighting, and sound, and builds a model.

  • Project: Animal Museum

    What your child learns and makes: Your child sorts animals by traits and habitat, builds an exhibit space, and explains it like a museum guide.

  • Project: Bridges and Building Structures

    What your child learns and makes: Your child thinks through length, weight, and materials, builds a structure, and explains how it's used.

  • Project: Everyday Products

    What your child learns and makes: Your child notices what bothers the people who use a product, picks a size and materials, and makes a bag or pencil case.

  • Project: Making Logos and Symbols

    What your child learns and makes: Your child decides what to communicate and uses shapes and colors to make icons, stickers, and logos.

  • Project: Spaces for Emotions

    What your child learns and makes: Your child picks colors, light, and size to fit a mood, builds a model space, and explains why.

The math and science your child uses in design

Six concepts and where each is used in design: shapes and space, measurement and ratio, patterns and symmetry, structures and forces, properties of materials, and living things and the environment
  • Concept: Shapes and space

    Question to think aboutWhich shapes and spaces are stable and easy to use?

    Where it's used in designFloor plans, 3D structures, dividing up a space, and the paths people take through it

  • Concept: Measurement and ratio

    Question to think aboutWhat size fits the person who'll use it?

    Where it's used in designLength and area, storage size, and scale (real size shrunk down)

  • Concept: Patterns and symmetry

    Question to think aboutWhat can repetition and balance show?

    Where it's used in designSurface patterns, decorations, and the layout of logos and pictures

  • Concept: Structures and forces

    Question to think aboutHow do we make it stand up and hold together?

    Where it's used in designStructures that hold up bridges, buildings, furniture, and packaging

  • Concept: Properties of materials

    Question to think aboutWhich material suits the job?

    Where it's used in designChoosing a material by comparing how bendable, clear, or hard it is

  • Concept: Living things and the environment

    Question to think aboutWhat environments do living things and people need?

    Where it's used in designAnimal habitats, exhibit spaces, and objects made with the environment in mind

The steps your child takes to complete a project, from reading to presenting

Seven steps of a Design Kids project, from Read and Explore to Write and Present
  1. Step: Read and Explore: Dig into books and real examples

    At this step, your child: Reads picture books, nonfiction, and real examples, observes closely, and finds the key information.

  2. Step: Understand: See it from different angles

    At this step, your child: Looks at the characters' feelings and at what the people who'll use the design need, and gives reasons.

  3. Step: Connect: Find the math and science the project needs

    At this step, your child: Learns the concepts the project calls for, like shapes, measurement, ratio, and structure, through real examples.

  4. Step: Imagine and Plan: Compare ideas and plan

    At this step, your child: Writes a plan and draws a design: who it's for, what to make, and which materials and steps to use.

  5. Step: Design and Make: Build from the design

    At this step, your child: Builds the product, space, or structure in small steps, at their own pace.

  6. Step: Use and Improve: Try it out and fix it

    At this step, your child: Uses what they made and finds and fixes what's inconvenient for the person using it.

  7. Step: Write and Present: Explain what they made

    At this step, your child: Sums up the process and result in writing, drawings, and a presentation, and sharpens the explanation by answering questions.

Emotion Box: Turning feelings from a story into colors and a box

After reading the myth of Pandora, children put the feelings it stirred up into a paper snack box.

Steps the children followed to make the emotion box

  1. Read the myth of Pandora and look at paintings of it
  2. Talk about fear while looking at the paintings
  3. Draw an emotion color palette and a box design
  4. Present the finished box (Show & Tell)

Choosing a color for each feeling

Children made a palette of colors for their feelings and wrote which feeling each color stands for.

Two sheets labeled INSIDE with painted palettes, each color numbered and labeled with a feeling such as 1. Happy 2. Annoying 3. Complicated 4. Mad
Palette worksheets with one color chosen for each feeling

Decorating the box from a design

Children first drew designs for the inside and outside of the box, then decorated the box to match.

A box design drawn with crisscrossing black pen lines, an arrow, and a photo of a real paper box decorated with the same pattern
Design for the outside of the box (left) and the box decorated from it (right)

Secret Museum: Creating animal characters for a museum exhibit

Children combined traits picked from an animal classification chart to draw new characters.

Steps the children followed to make a Secret Museum character

  1. Observe nature's colors with all five sensesObservation
  2. Find traits in an animal classification chartThink
  3. Combine traits from different animalsDesign
  4. Finish the character and write a caption for itArt
Worksheet with a pig under First Characteristics, a bird under Second Characteristics, and a character combining both next to a combine them arrow
Worksheet combining traits of two animals into one character
A pig drawing with a yellow-patterned back, an arrow, and on the right a standing pig character in a green top and blue pants raising one hand
Comparing proportion, pose, and color between an animal drawing (left) and a character (right)
A child's blue fish character drawing hung on a wall like a framed exhibit
Finished fish character drawing presented like a framed exhibit
Classroom board with character drawing examples and the questions How to draw Character? (Big, motion, Wearing, main color) and What is a Caption?, with colored pencils and a laptop on the desks
Board listing what to look at when drawing a character and what a caption is

Conversations during each project show what your child learned

What your child talks through with the instructor

  • Why they chose an idea

    Your child explains in their own words why they picked one idea out of several.

  • Whether they can build it as planned

    Your child checks whether they can build it with the materials and steps in their design.

  • Fixes they find themselves

    After trying it out, your child points out what was inconvenient and how to fix it before being asked.

  • Their presentation

    The instructor listens for whether your child says specifically what they made and why.

Records you can keep

Your child's reading and research notes, plans, designs, descriptions of finished work, and presentation videos can be saved.

Explore other grades and courses

*Hover over or tap a card to see the details and its link.

  • CourseK–G1 Food & Science

    What you'll find
    Your child builds models of science topics like the heart and cells, in English with native English-speaking instructors.
    Link
    See Food & Science

  • CourseOther K–G1 classes

    What you'll find
    Math (Math Lab), English writing (Write Lab), and English picture book reading (Book Club)
    Link
    See all K–G1 classes

  • CourseG1–6 special programs

    What you'll find
    SCAT and math competition prep, plus hands-on science and design classes
    Link
    See G1–6 special programs

Plan your child's Design Kids classes

In a consultation, you'll hear which classes are open now, what's in the kit, when it arrives, and what to have ready at home.

See how enrollment works
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