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Recycled Towers

Go around the house and collect household items to create the tallest or the widest tower you can!

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Big Idea
Children will be able to experiment and exploring building their own towers while also considering factors such as gravity, weight, and spatial awareness.

Materials
Household items such as cups, rulers, paper plates (preferably nothing breakable, but still a variety of weight)

Setup
Go around your house and collect anything you would think would make a great tower asset. Maybe even gather things that wouldn’t make a great asset to discuss why they can’t be used to make a tower.

Directions
Take the collected household items and start building the tallest/widest tower you can. For older children, start with a smaller surface area like the bottom of a cup to challenge them.
During tower building, encourage children by asking them questions such as why they are choosing certain items and not others.

Investigation Questions:
What items are the best for building the tallest tower?
What items are best for building the widest tower?
Why do you think your tower fell?
Why did that happen?
What did you notice?
What can we use to try next?

Learning Standards

11.A.ECa Express wonder and curiosity about their world by asking questions, solving problems and designing things.
While the children are building their towers, ask them why they chose the materials they chose for their towers.
11.A.ECb Develop and use models to represent their ideas, observations, and explanations through approaches such as drawing, building, or modeling with clay.
Children will try to build the tallest or widest tower possible using household items from cans to cups to rulers.
12.D.ECa Describe the effects of forces in nature
When children are building and objects begin to fall, discuss how gravity and weight contribute to the destruction.

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2100 Patriot Boulevard
Glenview, IL 60026
(847) 832-6600

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Open today from 9:30 am-4:00 pm

Open tomorrow from 9:30 am-4:00 pm

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