Construction play leads future engineers, architects and builders into the world of STEM as they experiment with different shapes and techniques. By introducing construction activities to your kids, you can open up their minds to a whole world of construction wonder.
Our series of construction activities for kids will offer more than an afternoon’s worth of play – these projects are multi-day, epic adventures in construction and, as an added extra, can teach children about our world. Kids will relish taking their time creating an architectural wonder like the Eiffel Tower (instructions below). Once they’ve conquered this, they can move onto the rest of our construction projects, which are all perfect for school holidays or spreading over several weekends, and include the Golden Gate Bridge, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a Mayan temple, and a Japanese pagoda.
The best part is the confidence and sense of accomplishment your kids will feel after creating something with their own two hands. Happy building!
Popsicle and Matchstick Eiffel Tower
Kids can bring a touch of Paris into the lounge room with a miniature Eiffel Tower. This complex project will keep them busy for days – it requires detailed engineering to construct a sturdy tower, and patience to build the tower stage by stage. Young project managers may need assistance to create the separate elements, while older kids can work unsupervised and use the glue gun themselves, learning to work quickly before the glue sets. And if the sticks are glued slightly askew? Well, teach them to say, “Non, je ne regrette rien!” (“No, I do not regret anything!”) with a dash of French flair.
Did You Know?
Standing some 300m tall, Paris’s Eiffel Tower is the world’s most visited monument. It was built by engineer Gustave Eiffel (who also helped create the Statue of Liberty) to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution and was only intended to be a temporary installation.
It took more than two years to construct the iron monument, which is held together with a mere 2,500,000 rivets! Luckily our mini version should be able to be completed in a shorter amount of time and uses glue to hold all the beams together.
What You’ll Need
- Studymate Stainless Steel Ruler 30cm
- Kadink Jumbo Craft Sticks Natural 50 Pack
- Faber-Castell Goldfaber Graphite Pencils 2B 3 Pack
- Kadink Matchsticks Natural 1000 Pack
- Kadink Low Temperature Glue Gun
- Kadink Craft Sticks Natural 180 Pack
- Kadink Low Temperature Glue Sticks 12 Pack
- J.Burrows Comfort Grip Scissors 8"/203mm
Before You Start
Ahead of construction, cut 21 regular popsicle sticks into 5cm pieces.
How to Make It – Section One
Step 1: Create a U shape, by gluing two whole popsicle sticks to either end of one of the pre-cut 5cm pieces. Repeat this process to create eight U shapes.
Hot Tip: If you are using a glue gun, there may be wispy strands of glue hanging off the gun after you use it. To help avoid this, push down the nozzle just after squeezing the glue out to ‘wipe’ it off. If you would like a cleaner finish, use PVA glue but note, you’ll need to wait several hours for each panel/step to dry before you can continue.
Step 2: Take two of the U shapes and place them in your work area. Close the left-hand U shape by blobbing glue on each of the vertical popsicle sticks and then attaching a jumbo popsicle stick to the vertical sticks, so that it overhangs to the right, as shown above. Repeat with the right-hand U shape so that its jumbo popsicle stick overhangs to the left. Join the two jumbo popsicle sticks in the middle to form a bridge.
Step 3: On each side, attach two regular popsicle sticks below the jumbo popsicle so that they run parallel to it. Leave about an 8mm gap between each stick.
Step 4: In the rectangular bottom space on each of the pillars that has just been created, attach two matchsticks diagonally so they slant downwards from the middle of the structure to the outside.
Step 5: Turn your panel over and then reinforce the lower horizontal struts by gluing on a regular popsicle to each one.
Step 6: While still on the back, create Xs on the rectangle supports by gluing matchsticks going diagonally opposite to the ones that are already glued on.
Step 7: Repeat this process from Steps 2 to 6 with the remaining U-shape pieces to create three more frames, so there are four altogether, then set them aside.
How to Make It – Section Two
Step 8: Take two regular popsicle sticks and glue the ends together, overlapping by approximately 1cm. Using the first piece as a guide, repeat until there are 16 of these double length sticks, using 32 sticks in total. Aim to make them all the same length.
Step 9: Take one of the Section One (Step 7) frames. This will now be used as a guide to create the next part. Place it on the work surface.
Step 10: Now, in the first larger space, use a pencil and the ruler to mark 1cm from the edge, then 2cm, and continue alternating the measurements from one edge to the other as shown. Do this for each of the larger spaces.
Step 11: Position the jumbo popsicle stick in the first 2cm gap on the bottom row and draw around the popsicle stick with the black marker to create an arch. Repeat along the line and then in each wide row, until they all have arches in them. This will be the outside of the main section of the tower.
Step 12: Use a compass or a large vase to make two big circles on a piece of paper. The circles need to be large enough to cover the top and bottom of the cardboard roll tower.
Step 13: Place your paper with the arches face down on your work area. Bend up all the tabs. Roll the cardboard roll tower in the paper and, where the edges meet, glue down the overlap.
Hot Tip: Try and line up the rows of arches while the glue is still wet and you can slide the paper a bit.
Step 14: When the glue is dry, fold down the paper tabs onto the top of the cardboard roll tower. Add a dab of craft glue to each tab then stick on a paper circle for the top of the tower. Repeat to attach the other circle to the bottom of the tower.
How to Make It – Section Three
Step 16: Take a completed middle frame from Section Two, turn it over and place it on the work surface. This will now be used as a guide to create the top frame.
Step 17: Take one regular popsicle stick and place it down horizontally, above and parallel to the top of the middle frame. Grab four regular popsicle sticks and angle them so they go from the middle frame to the top popsicle stick, two on the left side, two on the right, as shown above, with about a 5cm gap between each pair.
Step 18: Now adjust the angled vertical sticks, aiming to line them up as best you can with the angled vertical sticks that are on the middle frame, so that when you come to assembling the tower, they will match up to make one line. When you are happy with the position, glue the four slanted sticks to the top popsicle stick.
Step 19: Repeat Steps 16 to 18 to create three more of these top frames. Again, try and keep the matching bottom, middle and top parts together.
Step 20: Similarly to Step 13, take a top frame and attach matchsticks diagonally at regular intervals, slanting downwards from the outside to the inside, to create a kind of ladder effect on both pairs of vertical sticks. You should use about 3 matchsticks on each side.
Step 21: Turn the top piece over and attach more matchsticks to the back, slanting the other way, to create the X pattern down the sides, in between the popsicle sticks. There should be about 3 Xs down each side. Repeat this for the other three top frames.
How to Make It – Section Four
Step 22: Use four popsicle sticks to create a square, gluing the corners together. Repeat this three more times to make four squares.
Step 23: Using a top frame from Section Three, position it under one of the squares as a guide.
Step 24: Place two popsicle sticks vertically in the middle of the square, then slant the bottom of each to match up with the slanted inner sticks of the middle frame below, as shown. Once you are happy with the position, secure these slanted sticks onto the square frame at the top and the bottom.
Step 25: Repeat Steps 22 to 24 for each of the other square frames. As always, try and keep the sets together.
Step 26: Now, once more, attach matchsticks diagonally slanting downwards from outside to inside, in between the sets of vertical popsicle sticks. There should be about three down each side. Turn over and make Xs by gluing more matchsticks going the other way on the reverse side of the frame.
Step 27: Repeat this for each of the other square frames.
How to Make It – Section Five
Step 28: Glue 24 popsicle sticks together in pairs, overlapping them by about 1cm, to create 12 double-length sticks. Grab one of the square frames completed in Section Four.
Step 29: Remember the 5cm bits of popsicle stick you cut before starting? Take one of the remaining ones and place it down horizontally at the top of your workspace as a guide.
Step 30: Now you are going to line up three of the double length sticks from Step 28 to go from the top 5cm piece down to the left, right and middle of the square frame, as shown above. Once you are happy with their positions, glue them to the top bar.
Step 31: Add matchsticks diagonally between the popsicle sticks, slanting down from outside to the middle. There should be about six on each side. Turn the frame over and make Xs by gluing on matchsticks going the other way.
Step 32: Repeat Steps 29 to 31, matching each of the other square frames, and keeping the sets together.
How to Make It – Section Six
Step 33: With the remaining eight 5cm popsicle stick pieces, take two and put them down horizontally and parallel to each other.
Step 34: Create a reinforced square by joining the horizontal popsicle pieces with matchsticks either side and then add a third matchstick in the middle, as shown.
Step 35: Repeat Step 34 three more times to make four of these little squares.
How to Make It – Section Seven
Step 36: Now for the fun bit, putting it all together! Start with the bottom pieces from Section One. Glue them together to make a square base, aiming to make the joins consistent, and with the same sides facing out.
Step 37: Then, one by one, match the pieces from Section Two, again checking each of the four sides are facing out the same way, then carefully slanting them into each other, and placing the corners of the top section inside the corners of the bottom section. Glue in place.
Step 38: Add the pieces from Section Three, then the square ones from Section Four. These sections might require a bit of adjusting to line up, so take your time and gently glue into place.
Step 39: Time for Section Five. One by one, glue the slanting pieces together, aiming to make the joins and popsicle sticks line up, with the same sides facing out.
Step 40: Top with the Section Six mini-squares to make a cube.
Step 41: Squeeze glue in one of the top corners of the cube. Place a matchstick into the glue, holding it in a diagonal direction pointing up. Repeat this for the remaining three corners of the cube so that the four diagonal matchsticks meet in the middle to form a pyramid. Hold till the glue dries and they are secure.
Step 42: Glue four matchsticks along their length to form a thick stick.
Step 43: Squeeze glue where the matchsticks come together in Step 41 and place the thicker stick in the middle pointing up. Hold in place until the glue is firm.
Well done, you have made the Eiffel Tower!
