How to build a spaghetti and marshmallow tower

Is it raining or cold outside and the kids are stuck inside all day? Here is an easy activity that you can do with bored kids.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• regular uncooked spaghetti
• small mashmallows

1. Take your spaghetti and lay out a base in a geometric shape. You can lay it out in a square, trapezoid, triangle, octagon or any shape the child is familiar with. This is a great time to teach your child about new shapes and how many sides they have. You can make the shape as large or as small as you want. For smaller shapes you will need to break the spaghetti into pieces.

2. 

   Attach the shape together by using marshmallows. Stick the ends of the spaghetti in the marshmallows. When all of your spaghetti pieces are connected and form a base you are ready to move onward and upward.

3. 

   Now use the spaghetti pieces to build a structure using the base you have already made. Stick pieces of spaghetti in the marshmallows used for the base so they are standing vertically. Sometimes shorter pieces are easier to work with.

4. Stick marshmallows on the ends of the vertical spaghetti and use spaghetti to form the same shape as your base for the next level. If the structure will not stand up, keep adding pieces to structure until you are able to get it to stand up. This may mean making a more complicated base. It is a trial and error project.

5. 

   Keep adding to your structure until it is as high as you can go. Measure the structure to see how you were able to make it. Have a contest to see who can make the tallest structure.

Tips & Warnings

• If you only have large marshmallows you can still do this project. Just tear off pieces of the large marshmallow so they make smaller pieces.

• Experiment with other materials to make your structure more sturdy. Use different types of pasta to see which kind helps support the structure better.

• If doing this project around toddlers or younger children, make sure they do not ingest the marshmallows. Marshmallows are a severe choking hazard to young children.