TTS,Unit 4, Park Road, Holmewood, Chesterfield, S42 5UY.

This series of seven technology booklets provides teachers with a bank of appropriate activities for teaching primary children the skills required for each key stage of the national curriculum. Author Helen Monaghan compiled them as a result of courses run over the past few years, in which she realised that there were always more ideas presented than participants could remember.

The booklets cover Structures; Playgrounds and Toys; Wind, Weather and Water; People; Houses and Structures; Colour and Light; and Festivals. Each one provides an appropriate context for teaching its topic, illustrating a range of processes, skills, techniques, materials, structures and mechanisms.

They are intended as flexible guides which show examples of things children might make. So even if your charges have had little previous experience, many of the activities recommended for younger children would be appropriate. Others represent more complex processes, structures and mechanisms for the more experienced or able pupils. Each booklet also contains a useful content progression grid, which helps learning opportunities for the children.

Although these guides are intended to support design and technology, they would be a valuable source of ideas and techniques for any school teaching primary technology. They are a real snip at Pounds 2 each, and one which even the hardest-up primary school cannot afford to miss.