Construction and Building: Projects and Activities for Kids

Just because you may be spending more time at home than usual, you don’t have to be bored. Put down the screens and get yourself busy with construction and building projects that you’ll love working on. You’ll have so much fun, you’ll forget that you’re learning too. These STEM projects will help you practice science, technology, engineering, and math while having fun with hands-on building projects.

• Build a Truck (PDF) – Print this truck, cut it out, and follow the instructions to make a paper model of a truck.
• Sand Play Dough Recipe – Make some sand play dough by combining it with flour, water, and baby oil. Once finished, get out some tiny construction vehicle toys and have fun making your own construction site.
• Building Structures and Exploring Shapes (PDF) – This activity guide will help you build a variety of structures in different shapes and sizes using many things you probably have at home.
• Pipe Dreams – PVC pipes are easy to connect, and you can use them to make mazes on the floor.
• Cardboard Bulldozer Blade – All it takes is a cardboard box to make a bulldozer blade that you can use to scoop up toys and other small objects.
• Playful Building (PDF) – Use this building guide to learn concepts of construction as you build things at home.
• 10 Construction Activities – Try some of these construction activities like making a bridge out of dry spaghetti noodles and tape.
• Construction Challenges – These construction challenges are perfect for just about anyone and include making a tower out of newspaper or making vehicles that are powered by balloons.
• Construction Project Ideas – Gather materials such as straws, paperclips, toilet paper rolls, and cereal boxes to build structures like towers, bridges, and mazes.
• Activity Guide (PDF) – This activity guide will take you through building a watercraft, a paper table, a zip line, and much more.
• Building Things (PDF) – When you work on building projects, you learn how to plan the design, how to choose materials, and about forces like tension and gravity.
• How to Make a Magnetic Construction Site for Kids to Explore – Fill a bin with sand, and then hide some magnetic and non-magnetic items under the sand. Spend time finding the magnetic items with a larger magnet.
• A Kid’s Guide to Building Great Communities (PDF) – Do some deep thinking about your community and how you might make changes and what features you would want.
• Wee Crafts (PDF) – Grab some recyclable materials you might have around the house like empty plastic bottles and old newspapers, and see what you can build with them.
• STEM Challenges and Activity Sheets (PDF) – These STEM activities and challenges will help you learn about science, technology, engineering, and math.
• 4-H Inspire Kids to Do Activity Guide (PDF) – Projects included in this activity guide include making fizzy foam and a can-can robot.
• Projects of Chicago Land (PDF) – The projects included in this activity guide are sorted for kids by age, and kids of all ages are sure to find something fun to make or build.
• Water Cycle in a Bag – You need a closable plastic bag and a permanent marker to create your own water cycle in a bag.
• Oil Spill – This activity guides you through creating a replica of an oil spill so you can see what happens in real life.
• Coding a Lego Maze – Print out the guidelines for this project and then complete it at different levels depending on your age and skills.
• Build a Hand Crank Winch – You’ll need two paper towel tubes and a few other items from around the house to build your own winch.
• How to Make Magnetic Slime – Magnetic slime just contains liquid starch, white glue, and iron oxide powder.
• Building with Jelly Beans – Imagine the structures you can make just using toothpicks and colorful jelly beans.
• Easy and Fun Catapult for Kids to Make – You’ll need a few popsicle sticks, some rubber bands, and a drink cap to make a simple catapult.
• Build An Aircraft Engineering Challenge – It just takes some basic materials like straws, wooden dowels, tape, and clay to make some type of aircraft that will actually fly.
• Propeller-Powered Car – Engineering Project for Kids – Propeller cars are designed to be wound up so they will move across a hard surface.
• How to Make a Mini Robot – This mini robot comes together with a 3-volt motor, a AA battery, and a few more items that you probably already have at home.
• How to Make a Volcano with Kids – Simple modeling clay and a mixture of white vinegar and baking soda will help you make your very own volcano.
• The Pulley: Simple Machine Project – When you make your own simple pulley, you can understand how this machine works.
• Build a Paper Roller Coaster – Follow the steps of this project to make your own roller coaster out of paper.
• Make it Move – You’ll need some tiny cars and some building supplies like straws, string, paper, and magnets to make a maze for your cars.
• Parachute Design – Build your own parachute at home using a plastic trash bag, some string, tissue paper, and a few other materials.
• STEM Projects You’ll Actually Want to Keep – Some STEM projects are so good you’ll actually use them, like an eraser dispenser or a tablet stand.
• How to Build a Garden – This guide takes you through the steps of planning, building, and caring for a garden.
• What are Paper Circuits? – Paper circuits are circuits you build on either paper or cardboard using copper tape, LEDs, and a coin-cell battery.