Building and
Engineering
re and
tists—they love to explo
Children are born scien
enjoy doing
n
ca
u
ny activities that yo
discover. There are ma
scientist.
at home with your little
Questions
use,
used to construct a ho
• What materials are
a building or a bridge?
ct a
ines are used to constru
• What tools or mach
e?
house, building or bridg
tRY tHis At HoMe
Paper
Make A House Out Of
cks,
g materials, such as bri
You usually need stron
ild a house
e. However, you can bu
to build a strong hous
e strong
’t very strong) if you us
out of paper (which isn
nd tubes and
in building include rou
shapes. Strong shapes
a house
ections below and build
triangles. Follow the dir
g shapes.
using paper and stron
You Will Need
per
• Five pieces of A4 pa
• Sticky tape
• A small toy
cks
• Wooden or Lego blo
WHAt to Do
house for.
u would like to build a
Find a small toy that yo
. The paper
paper to make the walls
1. Use four sheets of
.
; it will keep falling down
won’t stand up by itself
stand up by
r stronger and able to
pe
pa
the
ke
ma
To
2.
the four
ong round tubes. Fold
itself fold them into str
ys)
a time) in half (long wa
pieces of paper (one at
roll).
let
toi
a
of
e
siz
(about the
then roll up into a tube
as the
Now use the four tubes
Sticky tape it together.
e.
four corners of the hous
Open 9 am to 5 pm every day. Closed Christmas Day.
Admission fees apply.
King Edward Terrace, Canberra
t 02 6270 2800
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top as the roof and
Put a piece of paper on
w place a block on
it will hold in place. No
chimney. The roof
top of the roof to be the
weight of the block.
will collapse under the
roof stronger by folding
4. You can make the
apes. Fold the
it into strong triangle sh
shape, back and
paper in a concer tina
will be many little
for th like a fan. There
paper now and this
triangle shapes in the
t the new folded
will make it stronger. Pu
d place the chimney
roof onto the tubes an
f. It will now hold
block on top of the roo
de of strong
because the roof is ma
triangle shapes.
live safely inside the
5. Now your toys can
strong paper house.
3.
DiD You KnoW?
hes and domes are
• Triangles, tubes, arc
use when building.
also strong shapes to
in Canberra is
• The tallest building
tres tall.
Telstra Tower at 195 me
CtiVities
tRY tHese otHeRofAThe Three Little
stor y
• Tell (or read) the
ferent
e the strength of dif
at
tig
es
inv
Pigs and
ur
Build houses for yo
building materials.
ws),
ra
straw (drinking st
children’s toys using
ks)
loc
icks) and bricks (b
wood (paddle pop st
d
an
er
house is strong
and investigate which
discuss why.
Domes
g is a dome shape.
• The top of an eg
ng.
es and are very stro
are curved like arch
the
of
keep the large half
When you eat eggs
t
Pu
is a dome shape.
egg shells. Notice it
at
en edge and place
tape around the brok
.
halves on the table
least four egg shell
oks
are by placing big bo
Test how strong they
ce
pla
any books you can
on top. See how m
put
break. You can even
on top before they
halves together to
a bunch of egg shell
s that will hold your
make egg shell shoe
child’s weight!
r you can
build the tallest towe
• Use blocks and
.
until it all falls down
sinG sonGs
n’t forget
ng with your child. Do
Sing this building so
or and roof.
ur arms as walls, flo
the actions with yo
There’s a house
a wall, with a wall,
There’s a house with
with a wall.
a floor, with a floor,
There’s a house with
with a floor.
a roof, with a roof,
There’s a house with
with a roof.
wn!
Ooooh, it all falls do
y more, any more.
an
e
There’s no hous
y more!
There’s no house an
ReAD BooKs
al library,
e books at your loc
Have fun finding mor
e.
book store or onlin
by Byron Barton
• Building a House
olas Harris
truction Site by Nich
• A Year at a Cons
Hayward
of a Builder by Linda
e
Lif
e
th
in
y
Da
A
•
n
Go on An eXCuRseeio
ring excursion!
d engin
Go on a building an
erra region.
estions in the Canb
gg
su
e
m
so
e
ar
re
He
notice how
your local area and
• Go for a walk in
e circles,
different shapes lik
many buildings have
y buildings
res. Notice how man
rectangles and squa
lumns),
(co
like triangles, tubes
have strong shapes
arches and domes.
al area.
ction sites in your loc
• Look for constru
nes lifting
moving dir t and cra
Look at the trucks
building
foundations of the
things. Look at the
built.
and the walls being
, the Telstra Tower
building in Canberra
• Visit the tallest
up and have
(195 metres tall). Go
on Black Mountain
wonderful
servatory and see a
a look out of the ob
view of Canberra.
sites
inVestiGAte WeB
ilding
for children about bu
bsites
There are many we
th:
suggest you star t wi
We
and engineering.
s with
do building activitie
• Play games and
com
www.bobthebuilder.
Bob the Builder at
at
rent styles of bridges
• Investigate diffe
ridge-p4.html
d-b
uil
/b
ch
te
a/
/nov
www.pbs.org/wgbh
www.questacon.edu.au