I wrote a set of Structures worksheets for a DT department a few years ago that needed to be taught by all staff, regardless of technical ability in structures.
The sheets went through the basic types of structures and used only 'spills' the thin wooden sticks used to light Bunsen burners, and plasticine, along with a bit of paper and some wooden blocks for weights. It proved very successful but I noticed some of the kids did not use the materials in correct ways because the long sticks with their flat absorbent surfaces stuck to the plasticine so well that quite bizarre angles could be made, and the flat sticks could be stuck together along their length to make very rigid pieces.
In the last few weeks, I have developed a similar structures project using a set of 7 photocopied card project sheets onto which pupils build directly. I used plasticine again ( Actually 'modelling clay' as its much cheaper and the same stuff!) but this time used cocktail sticks which I bought very cheaply from www.rapidonline.com. The shorter sticks have a round cross section and are non-absorbent which means pupils ideas need building more carefully with proper triangulation if they are to be weight supporting structures.
The idea still needs refining, but I only asked for self-supporting structures, and in hindsight, they should have been load bearing ones. Often picking something common but tricky to hold works well, such as a packet of skittles sweets.
