Teacher guide · Creative Lab · Harder · about 60 min

🏙️ Build Your Own City

Pupils practise creativity and problem solving and real life thinking through "Build Your Own City": Design a city from empty land: name it, build it, fix its first crisis.

Lesson guide

1. Hook · 5 min
Show the 🏙️ mission title and read the opening: "Name your city and describe it in one sentence.". Take three quick guesses.
2. Model · 5 min
Think aloud through the first step together. Use Pixel the Fox's line as your prompt: "Nice! That's an idea nobody else had."
3. Do · 35 min
Pairs work through the 22 steps on screen or on the printed sheet. Circulate and ask "why?"
4. Discuss · 10 min
Use two or three of the discussion questions. Ask pairs to share different answers, not just correct ones.
5. Reflect · 5 min
Exit ticket: one sentence on how they used creativity today.

Discussion questions

What was the hardest choice in "Build Your Own City", and why?
Name your city and describe it in one sentence — explain your reasoning to a partner.
Where does your city sit — explain your reasoning to a partner.
Name two problems your location creates for the people who live there — explain your reasoning to a partner.
Where could you use creativity outside school this week?
If you did this again, what would you change?

Adapting it

Support: Read prompts aloud, pair with a confident partner, and accept spoken or drawn answers for writing steps.

Stretch: Set the Challenge tier (1 extra steps) and ask pupils to justify every answer in writing.

Curriculum links

National Curriculum: English: composition — planning and drafting ideas (KS1/KS2)
National Curriculum: Design & Technology: generate, develop and communicate ideas
PSHE: Health & wellbeing: self-concept, strengths and interests

Pupil sheet

🏙️ Build Your Own City

Name: ____________________ Date: __________

1. Name your city and describe it in one sentence.
2. Where does your city sit?
☐ 🌊 On the coast
☐ ⛰️ In the mountains
☐ 🏜️ In the desert
☐ 🌲 Deep in a forest
3. Name two problems your location creates for the people who live there.
4. You have 100 coins to build. Choose wisely.
Budget: £100
☐ Hospital — £25
☐ Schools — £20
☐ Clean water plant — £20
☐ Parks — £10
☐ Buses & trams — £20
☐ Sports stadium — £15
☐ Solar farm — £20
☐ Museum — £10
☐ Fire station — £15
Total spent: £______
5. You couldn't afford everything. Explain the choice you found hardest.
6. In what order should things actually be built?
___ Homes
___ Parks
___ Roads
___ Schools
___ Stadium
___ Water
7. Match each city job to what it looks after.
Mayor → ________________
Engineer → ________________
Doctor → ________________
Teacher → ________________
Ranger → ________________
8. Year 3. Complaints arrive at City Hall.
Clue — Traffic: The main road jams for two hours every morning.
Clue — Air: Kids near the road are coughing more.
Clue — Money: The city has 20 coins left this year.
Clue — People: Half the city says 'don't take our cars away'.
9. Your 20 coins. Best fix?
☐ Build a wider road
☐ Free buses plus a car-free school street
☐ Ban all cars tomorrow
☐ Do nothing
10. Write the speech you'd give the drivers who are angry about it.
11. Invent one thing your city has that no other city in the world has.
12. Write your city's motto and what a visitor would remember most.
13. Chapter 2. Your city has grown to 200,000 people. What breaks first?
☐ Traffic and travel
☐ The city flag
☐ Street names
14. You have 40 million to fix moving around (at least 3 choices).
Budget: £40
☐ Trams — £15
☐ Cycle lanes — £6
☐ Wider roads — £12
☐ Free buses — £10
☐ Walkable town squares — £7
☐ River ferries — £8
Total spent: £______
15. Explain your transport plan to a resident who drives everywhere.
16. The city council brings you three complaints.
Clue — Families: Nowhere safe for children to play outdoors.
Clue — Shopkeepers: The high street is empty since the retail park opened.
Clue — Older residents: The nearest doctor is a 40-minute bus ride.
Clue — Teenagers: Nothing to do after 6pm that costs nothing.
17. Pick one complaint and design a fix that costs the city very little.
18. Order how you'd roll out a big change in a city.
___ Ask residents
___ Improve the plan
___ Measure what happened
___ Roll it out everywhere
___ Trial it in one street
19. A river flood hits the low district. Your first decision?
☐ Move people to safety and open shelters
☐ Rebuild the bridge
☐ Hold a press conference
20. Match each city service to why it matters.
Parks → ________________
Libraries → ________________
Recycling → ________________
Street lighting → ________________
21. Write your city's promise to its children in three sentences.
22. Ten years on: what does a Saturday morning look like in your city?