Building With Drinking Straws

Children love to build things, and drinking straws are an ideal medium to use. They are inexpensive, lightweight and portable. Bridges and house frames are easy to make with straws, and you can add modeling clay or play dough to fill in the holes and spaces that the straws leave. Because straws are lightweight, the structures can be very large without breaking or falling over.

Things You'll Need

• Drinking straws, straight or bendable
• Modeling clay, optional

Instructions

1. Lay out all your straws.

2. Pick up one straw and squeeze the end, so that it is small.

3. Insert it into the end of another straw and push it in as far as it will go, about an inch.

4. Squeeze the end of another straw and insert it into the straw that you just connected.

5. Bend the straws into different angles if you are using bendable straws. This is how you can create corners or angles for your structures.

6. Continue adding straws and bending them until you use all your straws or finish your structure.

7. Complete the structure by inserting the end of your last straw into the end of your first straw.

8. Apply play dough or modeling clay to the straws and the open spaces, if you like, to create walls, roofs or bridge walkways.

References

• Familiy Fun: Constrawction
• Crayola: Bridge Builders