Games
Potato Stick
Children use potato sticks to build different tall and strong structures, developing their understanding of balance, structural strength, engineering concepts, and creative problem-solving through hands-on play.
Materials
- Potato
- Toothpicks
Click on the image to learn more
Checklist
- were the kids trying to build the 3D structures?
- were the kids trying to make a stable structure than can balance objects on top of it?
how to play
Divide the children into groups of 2–3. Begin by telling a short story, such as being engineers helping tiny giants build towers to touch the clouds or designing magical lookout posts for creatures in a hidden land, to spark imagination. Give each group a set of potato sticks and explain that their goal is to build the tallest and strongest structure they can using only the sticks and potato pieces provided. Encourage them to explore different stacking methods, balance techniques, and support designs to make their structures stable. If children have difficulty, offer hints such as: How can you make the base stronger? Which arrangement keeps the structure balanced? How can you increase height without toppling? Ensure each child gets plenty of time to build, test, and enjoy their creation while developing skills in balance, structural thinking, and creative problem-solving.
Challanges
- Make a tower that can hold the weight of your books (start with one book and then you can increase the number).
- What kind of geometrical structures can be made with potato sticks?
- Make a tower using certain geometrical structures such as a triangle or square at the base and see which one is stronger.
- Make a bridge that can go from one table to another. Challenge if the bridge can also hold a certain weight.
Questions to be asked
- What can we do to make sure the tower can hold things without falling down?
- Does a tower made with 1 structure at the base and more structures at the base make any differences?
- Why does the tower start to lean or bend when it's built tall with only 1 structure holding it up at the bottom?
- Can you make a curve-shaped structure with potato sticks?
- What will be the difference if we add 2 sticks or more to make the structure?