Explore Together (indoors): Build a Bridge

© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.

STEM Key Concepts: How you design and build a structure helps determine how strong it will be; Different materials are useful for making different structures and different parts of structures; Walls, roofs, and bridges need to be supported in special ways

ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary

Educator Prep: Set up an area on a table or on the floor for each pair to work. For each area, put two boxes about 15” apart and place a piece of blue paper in between. (The paper represents the river and the boxes serve as the ends of the bridge.) Provide toy cars, paper strips (to serve as the bridge roadway), and materials that children can use to support their bridges.

Tell children that today they are going to work with a partner and use the materials to build their own bridges. Remind children that bridges are structures built over something, such as a river, a road, or a railroad track, so that people or vehicles can cross from one side to the other. Review the pictures of bridges as you discuss. Then introduce children to the materials.

• Point to the boxes and the blue paper. Explain that the boxes are the sides of the bridge and the blue paper is the water below.
• Review the other materials and what parts of the bridge they might be used for. Tell children you want them to work together to build a bridge across the water. Remind children that a bridge has to be built strong enough to safely let people and vehicles get from one side to the other.
• Present a challenge to children. Say, Try to build a bridge across the river that is strong enough for a toy car to drive over.
• Help children identify other materials and what parts of the bridge they could be used for. For example, show children the stiff paper strips and ask, What parts of the bridge in the pictures might you use these for?

Have children build their bridges in pairs. Circulate and be available as children work. Take at least one photo of each pair’s bridge. Ask questions such as,

• What do you think might happen if you make your bridge longer?
• How did you decide to put more tubes for support under the bridge when you made the longer bridge? Prompt children to respond in complete sentences using the vocabulary they are learning, for example, “I am using the tubes to make the bridge <strong>.”

Reflect and Share

Gather and talk about children’s observations, problems, and solutions while bridge building. Share the photos as children reflect. Prompt the discussion with questions, such as,

• How did you solve the problem so the car could get from one side to the other without falling into the water?
• What did you notice as you changed how far apart the boxes needed to be in order to support your bridge?
• What made a difference in helping the bridge not to fall down or collapse? Were some materials better to use than others? Why?

Take It Further: Help children understand, visualize, and connect to the forces at work when designing and building a bridge. Ask children, What would it feel like if you had a big heavy block on your head? How is that like when you put a car on your bridge?

English Language Learners: Point to each of the materials used in the activity. Say the word for each item clearly. Have children repeat the word after you. Then, talk with children about how it is used. Have children describe how they used the material to build their bridges.

Adaptation: You might prefer to have very young children do the activity individually, with one-to-one supervision.