Duncan Louttit
Swallow Systems
duncan@swallow.co.uk

The idea is that the children should design and make outfits for a mannequin. PIXIE moves the mannequin to make it 'strut its stuff' on a catwalk.
Children should be encouraged to write an appropriate commentary, describing the outfit. While PIXIE is moving, the children should read out their commentary to go with the outfit and the movements.
The activity has clear design and technology content and straightforward control content, but it is, perhaps, in speaking and writing that many teachers feel the activity has much to contribute. As PIXIE moves at a moderate speed and will normally do a sequence of actions such as showing its left side then its right side, the commentary needs to move on at an appropriate pace and go through similar stages as the program. The children are forced to develop the 'plot' of the commentary to match the actions. After the activity you will have the written work of the commentary together with the matching program and outfit. These should meet any recording requirements you may have.

Resources (see illustration)

There are four pages of photocopiable masters. The cover fits over PIXIE to provide a stand for the mannequin. The mannequins can be used on their own or the outfits can be used to dress them up. The recording sheet allows the program and commentary to be kept together. As well as these sheets you will need to have at least pencils, crayons and scissors. You may want to add pieces of material, glue, glitter, sequins etc., if you are feeling brave!
The most enthusiastic may want to have materials to make the catwalk etc. A simple sheet of cardboard cut to shape can form the catwalk. You can make a proscenium arch from a cardboard box. One idea is to use thin material glued across the arch and cut into narrow strips so that PIXIE can make an appearance through these 'curtains' and retire behind them at the end of the performance.

Making the PIXIE cover

The first thing to do is photocopy the cover sheet. If you can copy it straight onto card, this is best, alternatively you can copy it onto sticky paper and then stick that to card, or copy onto ordinary paper and then glue that to card. Cornflakes packet card is about the right thickness.
Now you can cut out the two pieces that make the cover. The cover itself is a plain rectangle with four cuts from the outside. There are two triangles to be taken out altogether and a single cut joining the two triangles. Do not cut the base into two parts!
The starred area is just to show where the mannequin stand fits. All the folds are 'hill' folds, apart from the front edge of the prop which is a 'valley' fold. The mannequin stand is a simple shape to cut out apart from the tab at the top where the mannequin fits. It is best to crush the card along the fold lines with a hard pencil or ball-point pen to make the folding easier. Do not make the folds yet. You should staple the mannequin stand to the front of PIXIE first and then to the prop. Stapling to the prop is difficult but do not worry too much about appearances, just put a couple of staples there. Once the mannequin stand is attached, you should make the folds that you scored earlier. These give it a lot of stiffness. The folds are towards the back of PIXIE so that they don't get in the way of the mannequin.

Mannequin (see illustration)

There are two copies on the sheet to make copying quicker. You can add a face to the mannequin before copying or you might ask the children to draw the face later.
Cutting out the mannequins should be straightforward. This is the reason it has no fingers, toes or hair! The only problem may be the slot to fit the mannequin to the stand. It may be best for a teacher or classroom helper to do these with a scalpel. It is a good idea to open up the slot and check that it fits on the stand before starting to dress the mannequin up.

Outfits (see illustration)

The simplest outfit is just to colour in the mannequin. If you do this, it is best for the children to colour in the mannequin before cutting it out. This is easier for the child and also gives a better result.
Details such as buttons and belts can be added by drawing. You can make this simple outfit much jazzier by sticking things on. Glitter and applique can also be used to enhance the effect. Another idea would be to stick bits of feather or cloth on. A feather in the hat is easy to do if the hat is just drawn on the mannequin.
Like the mannequins, it is easiest to colour in the clothes before cutting them out. Remember you are not limited to the shapes as drawn. The necklines are another area where children can use their design talents. You can ask the children to design other types of clothes. For example a sarong should be possible and a sash should be fairly straightforward.
The funny shape in the bottom right-hand corner of the clothes sheet is a hat with a brim. An alternative approach to fitting a hat would be to have two slits in the bottom and fit it over the mannequin's head.

Program and commentaries

Having thought about the outfits to be shown, the next question is how best to display them. Part of this is the movements that PIXIE should make, part is the commentary that goes along with the movements.
You may find it easiest to start with PIXIE's program. Encourage the children to keep it as simple as possible. A typical program would have PIXIE moving forward, pause, turn to one side then the other and then either back away or turn round and exit. Having got an outfit and a 'dance', each child will have to write a story to go along with it. The story should include the name of the model, a description of the outfit, both in terms of the types of clothes and the colours. Brighter children can synchronise things so that when PIXIE turns to the right, they talk about, for example, the watch that the model wears on its left hand.
Children will have to test for themselves that the spoken story takes as long as the program. An ideal story will finish just as PIXIE finishes its dance.

Recording

It is important that children record both their program and their story. The sheet provided is an example of how to do it with both the program and the story on one sheet. The full record for one child will also include the outfits and mannequins that they have made.
Apart from the benefits to the teacher of having the child's efforts recorded, the child should use the record to program PIXIE and read out the story as the program is run. It should help the child remember exactly how the performance goes.

For a full fashion show, there will be several models and different outfits. A record of the running order will be needed to allow time for outfits to be changed if one mannequin is used for several outfits. It is quite an exercise in social skills for the children to negotiate the running order between themselves to get the best overall effect.

Fancy bits

There are a few ideas to make the fashion show even more professional.

• make an archway for PIXIE to appear and disappear through.
• change the unit of turn for PIXIE. If you set it to 30 or 45 the movements, you will get a much better effect.
• get the children to read their stories into a cassette recorder for replay during the show.
• If you have more than one PIXIE, you could have two on the catwalk at once, or you could have one on the catwalk while the other has its mannequin or outfit changed.

Co-ordinating the movements of two PIXIEs is surprisingly difficult to work out.

Related ideas

You may decide that a fashion show is a bit too 'girly' for the boys in your class but you can get over this to a large extent by getting them to show football strip for their favourite club.

• Historical pageant
  You could have a Caveman, an Ancient Briton, a Roman, a Saxon, a Viking, a Crusader etc. With this idea, the children's story could be a snippet of history to go with the figure, e.g. 'Veni, Vidi, Vici' for the Roman, a description of a longboat for the Viking, or a bit of Shakespeare for someone in Elizabethan costume.
• Geography
  You could do a selection of national costumes. The commentary would include some information about the country itself.
• Pop music
  One idea that I would like to try would be a pop music pageant. The mannequins are dressed up as a Teddy Boy, a Hippie, a Glam Rocker, a Punk etc. The 'story' is just a few seconds of each of the types of music recorded on a cassette recorder.
• Ballet
  You could have two PIXIEs doing a 'ballet'. For this you will definitely need the turn units set to something like 45.
• Plays
  If these ideas generate a lot of interest in the theatre and you have several PIXIEs you could go further into this area by getting the children to present 'plays'. It is obviously best if you can get the children to create their own ideas. If you feel really brave, you could try and put on a pantomime complete with 'behind you' and 'oh no he isn't'. This may be particularly appropriate for children with mobility problems who could then put on their own Christmas play using PIXIE with mannequins as the actors.
• Carnival
  Carnival floats can be made as covers for PIXIE. These can be shown individually mounted on a PIXIE to give movement or they can be linked together with string so that PIXIE can tow several of them. This will work well with lightweight paper covers as they will just slide on the floor. If the covers are made too heavy, PIXIE will not be able to tow many. This could form the basis of a science experiment to see how many carnival floats PIXIE can tow. If you decide to do this, you should make the floats quite heavy and experiment yourself before the children have a go. The floats should be of a weight so that PIXIE can only tow three or four of them.