Building Structures

The materials I chose to use to build my three structures are toothpicks and small marshmallows. I chose these materials because I thought it would be fun to use with young children. It’s an activity that’s not messy just a little sticky and they can enjoy a sweet treat while working. The toothpicks and marshmallows are both small promoting help with fine motor development. The limit to only two types of materials to work with isn’t to over whelming. Also engaging their ability to think of different ways and types of structures to build.
The first structure was built to represent a pyramid. As I started building it the image in my head wasn’t matching to what my hands were building. I didn’t stop building I just went with the flow and built till I was satisfied. I focused on equilibrium, tension, and compression when building this structure. I wanted to make the base of the structure wider and as I built it taller each level would have to be narrower or smaller in size. This idea didn’t match my spatial
Their structures would have similarities but they might not have so many different supports to help make it strong and sturdy. Young children also will lack the ability to think of many ways to problem solve all their challenges during the building processes. If a child where building a structure with my materials, one spatial thinking action they would use is what shape and size would be the best way to make a sturdy structure. Another one would be how many toothpicks and marshmallows would be needed to make the structure I want. They also might think where and how many marshmallows should I place on the toothpicks so it stands up tall and strong. Always keep in mind that each age has a different cognitive ability of spatial thinking when doing building activities or drawing