If you haven’t pulled out the toothpicks and marshmallows with your kids, now’s the time! These awesome building activities do not need fancy equipment or expensive supplies. You CAN easily do these activities at home or school, and they are fun and challenging, which makes building structures an awesome STEM activity for kids of all ages. Plus, these ideas are great for team-building activities too!

AWESOME BUILDING ACTIVITIES FOR STEM!

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SIMPLE ENGINEERING FOR KIDS

My son loves when I get out the toothpicks and some squishy candy or cut-up fruit. He knows it is building time! Here’s our list of best building activities for kids for preschool through to middle school! Whether you have younger kids or older kids, many of these projects work for everyone!

Why are building projects amazing STEM play? You need a good design, the right amount of pieces, a solid base, basic math skills as well as basic engineering skills to build a solid structure. All important aspects of STEM! Learn more about engineering for kids!

ALSO CHECK OUT: Engineering Design Process

We like to set up fun building challenges using easy and inexpensive supplies. STEM is all about the world around us, so let’s encourage kids to use what they have and get creative with their engineering skills!

ALSO CHECK OUT: Engineering Books for Kids (get the creative juices flowing)

STEM PROJECTS FOR TEAMWORK

There are so many great ideas below that make awesome team-building ideas for classrooms and groups too! Get kids into small groups, hand out the supplies you are using, set the challenge, and make a time limit (optional!). Collaboration is a huge part of the engineering world!

Kids will learn how to work as part of a team, how to problem-solve with their peers, how to use cooperation to complete a common goal, and bond over a shared experience!

Looking for more easy team building activities for kids? These easy STEM challenges with paper are great to do with groups!

STEM SUPPLIES FOR BUILDING STRUCTURES

We’ve put together a fantastic resource covering all the MUST HAVE STEM supplies you need to get started and how to source them for cheap! Plus, you’ll find a free printable STEM pack with a Build a Tower Challenge!

WHAT IS A STRUCTURE?

A structure is defined as something something constructed or arranged in a definite pattern of organization. The act of building is called construction.

For STEM projects, we often refer to structure building activities that use a soft material such as a marshmallow to connect a stabilizing material such as a toothpick.

Other structures can include tower challenges, building landmarks, architecture ideas, marble runs, and what ever else you can think of…

CLASSROOM BUILDING ACTIVITIES

Below you will find a list of materials and links to specific building instructions. Click on the links to learn more about these different building activities.

These projects can be used in a classroom or at home. You can put together boxes or kits with the specific materials that be stored easily as well.

Grab this FREE 2D and 3D Shape Cards Printable to pair with marshmallows and toothpicks!

1. Toothpicks and Food

Common snack foods such as apples, cheese, and marshmallows (for fun) are good for building with. We added some crackers to use as bases or platforms. Although this is what we used, the possibilities are endless!

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Spaghetti Tower Challenge

2. Toothpicks and Candy

You can use any gummy sort of candy, such as gum drops, for building elaborate structures, including bridges. Tasty too!

Engineering Structures with Gum DropsPin
Building Structures with Gum DropsPin

3. Toothpicks and Pool Noodles 

If you want to use toothpicks and something other than candy or food items, try chunky pool noodles or other styrofoam. We sliced up a pool noodles to make our pool noodles structures.

Pool Noodle Structures Connecting Towers with ToothpicksPin

4. Shaving Cream and Pool Noodles

Yes, we did try this! We took our pool noodle chunks from above and added a different kind of building challenge: shaving cream! It’s fun and messy, but it cleans up quickly, too! Our structures were a little different, but we still tested out quite a few skills.

Building with shaving cream and pool noodles

Pool Noodle Shaving Cream Building STEAM activity for summerPin

5. Pool Noodle Marble Run

Can you make a marble run from pool noodles and tape? Try out this fun building challenge on a blank wall.

Pool Noodle Marble Run

6. Playdough and Skewers

You can put playdough and skewers together for a fun building activity. Skewers are like really long toothpicks and are a challenge all in themselves! You probably already have the two things you need to get started.

Playdough with Skewers

For younger kids check out our list of the best building toys for toddlers to preschoolers.

7. Playdough and Straws

Straws and play dough go together like marshmallows and toothpicks! You need a slightly different building technique since you have to mold the play dough, but the building challenge is similar.

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8. Popsicle Sticks

Who knew STEM building activities could be so much fun? We did! Want to learn how to make a catapult with Popsicle sticks? Take the challenge! Break out the craft sticks and rubber bands.

UPPER ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE SCHOOL: Older kids can take this catapult challenge further and set up an obstacle such as a wall of a specific height that the object must clear. Additioanlly you can add in a distance element and place the wall so many inches or feet away from the catapult.

Popsicle Stick Catapult

popsicle stick catapultPin

9. PVC Pipe

PVC pipes are awesome for STEM projects! Plus, our new PVC Pipe Kit is an easy, frugal alternative to the pricey toy alternatives. My son loves using “real” household items for play rather than toys.

PVC Pipe House Building Project PVC Pipe Engineering STEM activityPin

10. Plastic Cups

Plastic cups are a valuable and cheap resource to have on hand! Have you ever built a 100-cup tower? It makes for a great afternoon preschool-building project.

100 Cup Tower Challenge

Christmas Tree Cup Tower

This Christmas cup tower STEM is a great science experiment for kids! One of the simplest experiments for kids to try this holiday season! Pin

11. Recycled Cardboard

Grab a bunch of cardboard and cut out some simple shapes as we have for our cardboard building activities. We always keep a bunch of recyclable materials on hand for structure building activities!

Cardboard Box Rocket Ship How To Make a Cardboard Box Rocket ShipPin

12. Newspaper Structures

Build the Eiffel Tower out of newspaper or whichever landmark or structure that interests you!

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Paper Eiffel Tower

13. 3 Little Pigs Architectural Challenge

Each of the pigs built a different structure to escape the wolf? This classic fairytale is a fun lesson in STEM and building structures. Challenge your kiddos to build their own structures to escape the wolf and turn on a box fan to test their strength!

14. LEGO

Can you build a LEGO tower as tall as you are? We are trying to do this over the weekend. We have tons of LEGO, so we can pull it off. Can your kiddos build a tower as tall as themselves? That is a fantastic challenge to try right away.

Some of our favorite LEGO building ideas…

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Click on the image below or the link for more awesome STEM activities for kids.

Printable STEM Pack for Kids

80+ Doable Engineering Projects in one convenient pack!

  • Full instructions with sample images
  • Activity-specific instruction sheets
  • Data Collection Sheets
  • Questions for Reflection
  • Architecture Building Cards: Try the tallest tower challenge
  • Bridge Building Cards: Explore different types of bridges to build your own.
  • Paper Chain STEM Challenge: Who can make the longest chain? Great icebreaker or quick challenge!
  • 3 Little Pigs Architectural Pack: Design a house that won’t blow away!
  • Great marshmallow challenge: A classic challenge kids love!
  • Real-world STEM challenge lesson but don’t know where to start? Our easy-to-follow template shows the steps!
  • What’s the difference between a scientist and an engineer?
  • Crossword and word search with engineering vocabulary.
  • Engineering vocabulary cards
  • Design a one-of-a-kind invention and write about it with this 5-page activity!

12 Comments

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  9. I clicked on the 2D/3D Structure Building cards TWICE and filled out the forms TWICE and I still haven’t received the free cards. You said it would take 14 minutes? I’ve been waiting for 2 hours!

  10. I have tried filling out the form for multiple of the free worksheets and none of them are going to my email. I’ve waited several hours! One was the 2D 3D shape building with the marshmallows and toothpicks, I also wanted the Stem Winter Challenge cards and then LEGO challenge and templates. please help 🙁

  11. Hi Natalie, I see three were sent yesterday to you at 6:39pm EST. Please check around and email me [email protected] for further assistance! I also see back in October, on the 24th, a couple were sent and never opened.

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