M is for Marshmallow Structures
The other night we decided we wanted to do something a little sweet. Nothing sweeter than learning about structures, strength and foundation, then eating the results. Yum!
The kids were excited as soon as the marshmallows came out.
As soon as I showed them they could build with them, they were beyond thrilled.
For this assignment I asked the girls to build a tower as tall as they could using only marshmallows and toothpicks. They didn’t build tall towers, but they had fun creating 3 dimensional works.
At one point Charlie started to get frustrated because her structure wouldn’t stand up. I asked her what she could do to make it stronger and she told me to add triangles. That was a proud moment! Sure she doesn’t understand why it works yet, but she knows it does so it will be a great concept for us to explore when she gets a bit older.
As we progressed through the project I made sure to ask the girls other questions, such as what other materials they thought would work to build towers, if marshmallows were the best construction materials and if there was anything they could think of to make marshmallows even better for this project.
Lena worked hard on her marshmallow structure. She was more interested in eating the supplies toward the end. Daddy asked if he could combine her work with his and she agreed. Here is her finished structure.
Charlie ended up with two different structures. The first I helped her with a bit:
The second one she mostly completed on her own:
What creative building materials have you used? Which was your favorite?
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7 Comments
Cristina
These remind me of K’Nex only these taste better. I love marshmallows – especially the tiny ones. Now I need something sweet. Thanks!!!
Cristina recently posted…M is for Maundy Thursday
Mary
Haha, see it reminds me of tinker toys…I really need to find those. Do they make them anymore?
jen
I love this! And like Cristina said it reminds me of K’Nex. Nathan got a set for Christmas but he’s too young. This marshmallow version would be perfect!
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Mary
It was so much fun and it let’s the kids explore engineering concepts as they work through the problems of getting things to stand up straight, or hold up weight.
Sarah Day
Fun! Do they end up eating some of the “building blocks”?
Sarah Day recently posted…M is for Monday
Mary
They ate all of them, lol. Lena kept asking me if she could eat the squished ones.
Rama
Super activity! Loved it! 🙂