Young children can use toothpicks or small thin sticks and clay or small marshmallows to make a variety of easy structures. Use pea-sized pieces of clay or the marshmallows to connect two or more sticks at each joint or connecting point. Students can make basic cubes from 12 toothpicks and clay as a foundation for houses, skyscrapers or other buildings. They can even make small toothpick people to populate their buildings.
Adults may remember making simple sailboats, boxes or picture frames when they were young using Popsicle sticks. Today's kids still do this, but have more options available to them since the craft sticks now come in a variety of sizes and colors and are available at craft retailers. Elementary-age students can use these craft sticks, along with some basic white or wood glue, to build models of small houses or cabins. They also are a popular choice for school study units on the Golden Gate Bridge or other projects in which kids learn basic structural concepts.
Young children can make small construction projects from scrap lumber or prepackaged kits. Birdhouses and tool caddies are common choices for kids to make and put to use. Small shelves are another simple-to-make option; students can build the shelves and paint them to match their room decor. Instructions for do-it-yourself projects are available online and in books for those using scrap lumber and available materials. Another option is the ready-to-build kits available through major home stores like Lowe's (www.lowes.com) and Home Depot (www.homedepot.com). These chains also offer classes at which kids learn construction basics and safe tool handling techniques while building their projects.
Students can use plastic building blocks to make sturdy models of houses, bridges, pyramids and other structures. The wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes available help kids learn about structural stability and unusual building styles through trial and error. Have them experiment to test what sizes and shapes of foundations are the most sturdy, how high certain building walls can be built without teetering and how to use standard rectangular "bricks" to make non-traditional structures such as igloos and pyramids.
Elementary teachers often supplement study units on ancient Egypt, native Americans or early settlers by assigning relevant construction projects to their students. Students might build a pyramid from modeling clay or craft sticks. Others build traditional Indian homes -- tepees, longhouses, wickiups -- from twigs, felt and leaves. Kids learning about early settlers can construct cabins or basic frame houses from craft sticks or branches and twigs cut to size, giving them a taste of what early settlers had to consider when building their homes.