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What do young children learn when they build?

• They learn about problem solving and experimentation.
• They learn how to communicate our ideas when we talk about tools, shapes and design.
• They learn about geometry by seeing how shapes fit together.

The goals of this What’s the BIG Idea? kit:

• To build structures with a variety of materials, to observe how different building materials have different strengths and limitations.
• To decide what function a building will have and work to design and build a structure to meet that need.

$36.99

Download a PDF of a free sample activity

We live in a built environment—from the buildings we sleep in, work in, play in and learn in, to the infrastructure our society has built—bridges, roads, radio towers, telephone poles. These structures provide lessons in engineering, balance, structural integrity and more.

Many structures are designed not only to look good but also to serve a specific function. The relationships existing between form and function are more apparent to children than appearance, especially when they attempt to build a structure. A well-designed structure needs to serve its function with an appropriate and efficient use of materials. To work well, a structure needs to withstand various forces. Gravity is the basic force pulling on all structures. Gravity exerts its force in several ways such as the pulling force of tension, the squeezing force of compression and the twisting forces of torque.

When children build structures, they are working with these same forces. They need to keep their structure balanced so it won’t topple over. They need to use materials that won’t crumble under their own weight. They can work with symmetry and design as they explore and copy patterns in the built environment. As children build, they discover that some materials have certain properties that make them most useful for certain functions, while other materials have different properties. The more they build, the more children learn to persevere to accomplish their task, all the while solving the various problems inherent in engineering tasks.

The built environment is filled with both visual and textural patterns. The patterns seen are created by a row of windows in a tall building, bricks in a building’s façade, and structural elements making an old railroad bridge. Many patterns in structures can be felt as well—such as the veins in a birch leaf, the horizontal rows of clapboards on a house, or the bumping pattern you feel when you run along a picket or iron fence with a stick.

Buildings and other three-dimensional objects are created using patterns of materials, shapes, and arrangement. They also demonstrate relationships in that their form is related to and supports the use for which they were created.

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